


The Jaeger Siblings

by 20Nintegafan04



Series: The Jaeger Siblings: Attack on Titan rewritten [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Levi's too, And my own because ohh boy do i love-a swearin', Canon-Typical Violence, Character's Name Spelled as Jaeger, Eren Jaeger has a sister, Eventual Romance, F/M, German Eren Yeager, German Faye Jaeger, How Do I Tag, Multi, Not Beta Read, Protective Eren Yeager, Rated T for Eren's mouth, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, This Faye is not Grisha's sister, she dead, that too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20Nintegafan04/pseuds/20Nintegafan04
Summary: What if Eren Jaeger had a sister?This is the story of Eren Jaeger and his little sister Faye Jaeger.Not shipping focusedA rewrite of Attack on Titan
Relationships: Eren Yeager & Original Female Character(s), Mikasa Ackerman & Armin Arlert & Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager
Series: The Jaeger Siblings: Attack on Titan rewritten [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984534
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	1. To you in 2000 years: The Fall of Shiganshina

**Author's Note:**

> This story exists because i like the idea of big brother Eren
> 
> For Clarification: Faye is named after Grisha's sister, she still existed in this universe and dies the same way, when Grisha and Carla had Faye he named her after his sister. Also this story is being written by somebody with no siblings, so bear with me if the sibling-relationship is done wrong.
> 
> The entry age for the Cadet Corps is lowered to 11, to allow Faye to enter (EMA will still be 12)
> 
> Also, Eren will be slightly less of a dick to Mikasa and Armin, and is Mikasa-levels of protective of Faye
> 
> There will be hints of EreMika, though I'm not sure if i'll establish a full relationship because I can't write romance for shit
> 
> The story will primarily focus on All of the Shiganshina Trio (or Quadrio in this case), though primarily the Jaegers
> 
> Some early aspects of the story have dialogue ripped from the anime because the scene is identical. This will stop around Trost.
> 
> Also, here's a concept idea: Partial Transformation. And i don't mean like the whole thing with the spoon or the cannonball. Titan's act like a sort of piloted bodysuit for the shifter, so a shifter could potentially form a small titan body that wraps tightly around them, basically giving them a human-ish sized version of their titans (for obvious reasons this wouldn't work with the Colossal). If I do implement this, it'd only show up later. Don't expect this to actually appear, it's just an idea at the moment.
> 
> German words and Nicknames will be italicised
> 
> Faye Jaeger Character Profile:  
> Born: 14th April 836 (845: Age 9) (850 Age 14)  
> Family: Carla Jaeger (Mother), Grisha Jaeger (Father), Eren Jaeger (Older Brother) Mikasa Ackerman (Foster Sister since 844), ????? ????? (Cousin, Carla's side.)  
> Hair Colour: Chocolate Brown (Same as Eren),  
> Hair Style: Tied up in a ponytail that goes over her shoulder, wears a pair of blue flowers on the left side of her head..  
> Eye Colour: Emerald Green (Same as Eren)  
> Personality: Excitable, childish, carefree, somewhat quick to anger (though not as bad as Eren), Looks up to her older brother, After the fall of Shiganshina, she is very clingy to Eren  
> Height: 4' 10 (Age 15)  
> Languages: German (Native) Eldian (Primarily)  
> Skill at ODM: Middling  
> Hand to hand skill: Middling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jäger!

**845**

  
**Shiganshina District**

  
**Wall Maria South**

  
"Mama, when are Eren and Mikasa getting back?" The voice of a young girl rang out in a mid-sized family home.

  
The voice belonged to Faye Jaeger, a young, excitable nine year-old girl, who lives blissfully unaware of how horrifying the beings beyond the wall are. Faye was sat at the table with her father, who is reading a medical book.

"They're getting firewood Faye. They'll be back soon" The girl's mother, Carla, responded to her daughter. 

  
_I know the Survey Corps are supposed to be returning today, I hope Eren doesn't run off to watch them._ Carla worried for her son, Eren. 

  
If there is one word that can describe Eren, it's Passionate. Carla's family was always known to have a short temper, though Eren's seemed to be worse than anyone in her family ever. Eren's passion stems from a desire to see the outside world, but it leads to him going into an outright frenzy when truly enraged.

  
But if there is one thing Eren's anger does right, it gives him a protective instinct of his family and friends, often leading him into fights with some of the children in town in defence of his best friend Armin Arlert. Armin is a very good friend of the Jaeger family, and was the one who ignited Eren's burning desire for freedom, Armin had also shown the book to Faye, piquing her interest.

  
"I hope they're back soon, I'm so bored!" Faye, though still having a temper, is nowhere near as bad as Eren. She's a kind soul, if not mischievous, but has a lot of trouble making friends, not that it matters to her, Eren, Mikasa and Armin are more than enough for Faye as friends. She and Eren are attached at the hip most times, except for when Eren and Mikasa go for firewood.

  
"We're back." A tired, boy-ish voice echoed through the room. The sound of logs rolling was heard as Eren placed some logs on the ground with Mikasa walking in behind him.

  
"Eren!" Faye yelled out happily as she ran towards her big brother and hugged him from the side.

"Hey Faye _._ " Eren smiled and slings an arm over her shoulders and gave her a small side-hug and ruffling her hair slightly.

"Wow Eren, that's a lot of firewood, You've been working really hard haven't you." Carla said walking over to her son. Eren let out a small grunt of recognition, before suddenly giving out a loud yelp as Carla tugs on his ear.

  
"Ow, what was that for?!" Eren shouted, temper beginning to flair. Carla's mouth became a knowing smirk.

  
"Your ears are red again, which means you've got something to hide, Mikasa helped you out again didn't she?" Eren made no response, but didn't deny it.

  
Faye made a small giggle at her brother's antics, Eren always lazed around when it came to chores. Luckily Mikasa was there to pick up the slack, not that Eren got away with it, Carla somehow knew when he and Faye were lying, apparently Eren's tell was his ears turning red. 

  
Eren and Mikasa sat at the table, Eren next to Faye, Mikasa next to Eren. Carla continued to wash dishes while the kids ate and Grisha, who was silently sat at the table, read a medical book. Eren wolfed down his food, while Mikasa and Faye ate at a normal pace. They were eating like a normal family, until-

  
"Eren wants to join the Survey Corps" 

  
That was the straw that broke the camel's back, or in this case, set the Jaeger's temper off.

  
"WHAT THE HELL MIKASA?!"

  
"Absolutely not! Do you have any idea how many people die going outside those walls?!"

  
"Of course!"

  
"Well then why d-"

  
"Eren," Grisha said with a sigh. "Why do you want to go outside the walls?"

  
"I want to know what it's like out there. I don't want to spend my life inside the walls, not knowing anything! Also... If no one carries on their work, all the casualties till now will have been in vain!" Eren vents, tears beginning to gather in the corner of his eyes as his temper flares. Faye stares in awe of her brother's surprisingly noble reasoning, Mikasa's eyes widen slightly too.

  
"I see..." Grisha looked at his pocket watch. "The ship is waiting. I'd best be going now."

  
"Wait... You need to talk to Eren about this!" Carla insisted.

  
"Carla," Grisha sighs. "Mere words won't hold back human curiosity. Eren," He says, turning to his son. "If you behave, when I get back I'll show you what's in the basement."

  
Eren's eyes widen with curiosity and excitement "Really?!" He'd always wanted to know what his Dad had been doing down there.

  
Grisha exited the door and began to walk down the street towards the dock, hearing his kids shouting goodbyes to him.

  
"I won't let you." Eren stopped waving and turned to his mother. "Joining the Survey Corps? Don't be stupid."

  
"Huh? Stupid?! I think people who're fine being cattle are way more stupid!" He shouted before running off. 

  
"Eren!" Faye and Carla shouted at the same time, before the former ran after her brother. Carla turned to Mikasa. "Mikasa that boy is looking for trouble, I need you to promise me you'll look after him." The oriental girl nods and runs after the Jaeger siblings.

* * *

After finding Armin and (Mikasa) scaring off the bullies. The Jaeger siblings, Mikasa and Armin sat by the Shiganshina riverbank.

  
"So I said that humanity should go out into the world someday. And they hit me and called me a heretic." Armin said with a tired voice from years of hearing the same thing from them.

  
"Damnit," Eren said throwing a rock. "Why the hell does everyone act like you're crazy if you want to go outside?"

  
Faye threw a rock at the river after Eren's, skipping a few skips less. "I just wish they'd be less of a jerk about it. They're so mean."

  
Armin looked to Eren "Because staying within the walls has brought peace for a hundred years. They're afraid that if many of us venture out, we'll risk letting them in. So the royal government declared any interest in the outside world taboo."

  
Eren scowled "It's our lives we're risking, so it's our business what we do!"

  
Mikasa looked to Eren "You can't"

  
Eren looked at Mikasa with an incredulous look "Hang on you're the one who ratted me out, you promised you wouldn't!"

  
"I never promised that."

  
"W-well how'd it go?"

  
"Well... They weren't happy."

  
Armin looked down with had a pessimistic look on his face. "No surprise there. "But you're right. I wonder about those who think staying inside the walls will protect us forever." Armin heard a child calling for their mother. "Just because the walls haven't been breached in a hundred years doesn't mean they won't be breached today..."

  
Silence overcame the quadrio, the wind died down. 

  
Lightning struck outside Wall Maria.

  
An earthquake shook the grounds of Shiganshina district. People in the district ran towards the commotion, confusion rampant. 

  
Armin stands up quickly and runs over to get a view of the wall. Eren, Faye and Mikasa stand and follow him. 

  
"Hey, Armin! What's going on?" Eren says as he catches up, Faye and Mikasa standing close by him. "Talk to me! What was that some kind of explosion or-" Eren was cut off with a gasp. 

  
A red hand gripped Wall Maria. A skinless head appears with steam rising from it, seeping out of it's mouth. The head stared over the district. 

  
Faye hid behind her brother in fear.

  
Armin's voice shook as he spoke "T-that's impossible, that wall is 50 metres high."

  
"It's one of them" Eren said in shock. "It's a Titan!"

  
The Titan in question reared it's foot back before kicking with incredible force, creating a sizable hole around 20m high, allowing even the tallest of normal titans to enter. Debris and rubble flies and crashes all over the Shiganshina District, crushing anyone who doesn't get out of the way. 

  
Titans begin to pour into the city as the residents run in fear.

  
"TITANS!"

  
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

  
"THEY'VE BREACHED THE WALL!"

Armin turns while keeping his eyes on the breach "We have to go..." He gasps, laying eyes on his best friend. "Eren no!"

  
The elder Jaeger stumbles forward as his sister stares in confusion. "Our house is in that direction..." 

  
Faye's eyes widen in recognition and horror "Mom's all by herself!" She said before her and Eren ran off.

  
"Mikasa-!" Armin tried to reach for her as she ran off, before grabbing his arm and pulling it down, tears swelling. "This is it, this is the end. We- OUR ENTIRE CITY IS GOING TO BE DEVOURED!"

* * *

Eren, Faye and Mikasa run through the rubble-ridden streets, tears freely flowing from their eyes and being caught in the wind.

  
 _It's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. Nothing hit my house! Once I turn that corner, my house will still be there just like always!_ Eren turned the corner and let out a tear filled scream "MOM!"

  
Faye and Mikasa turned the corner shortly after him, Mikasa sped up and ran parallel to the Jaegers. Faye let out an anguished screech "MAMA!"

  
Of all of the houses on the street, the only one that had been hit was the Jaeger household and, pinned under a beam, was Carla.  
"Eren..."

  
Eren ran up to the house and grabbed one end of the beam "Mikasa, grab that side and lift as hard as you can!"

  
Mikasa grabbed the other side of the beam, while Faye grabbed Eren's side of the beam, the three began to hoist the beam with everything they had.

  
"The Titans are inside, aren't they? Eren, take Faye and Mikasa and run!"

  
"I WANT TO, BUT NOT WITHOUT YOU DAMNIT" Eren screamed back, letting out a grunt of pain as he lifted, he let out a gasp of shock as he noticed the titans from over the rooftop. Faye let out a scream of fright as she spotted a titan with a malicious grin on it's face approaching them.

  
"Eren my legs were crushed by the rubble. Even if I get out, I can't run. You understand, don't you?"

  
"THEN I'LL JUST CARRY YOU!"

  
"WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, PLEASE!" Carla shouted, much like a dying animal hoping for her kin to survive, she turned to her foster daughter. "Mikasa..."

  
"No..." Mikasa said, trying desperately to lift.

  
Faye continued to struggle, but to no avail, the beam just wouldn't shift.  
"If you don't get out of here now all four of us will..." She stopped and looked up at the sound of ODM wires "Hannes!".

  
The Garrison soldier ran up to the house and assessed the situation. 

  
"Take the children and run."

  
Hannes looked at Carla with a smile. "That's not our only option, Carla. Hell I'm a trained soldier, my job's is killing titans and saving lives!" He said, drawing his blades as he began to run at the titan.

"HANNES NO!" He heard Carla scream behind him.

  
_She's right. If it were just the kids, I could save them. But it's nothin' fancy, just take it out. Make good on the debt you owe!_

  
Hannes stopped running as fear washed over him. The titan gazed down upon him with a horrifying grin on it's face. He let out a grunt as he put his blades back in his scabbards, running back and grabbing the kids.

  
"WAIT NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Eren screamed in surprise as Hannes picked him up "PUT ME DOWN YOU BASTARD!"

  
Faye screamed in panic "WAIT MR. HANNES, PLEA- MAMA!" The titan continued to approach the house and it's gaze turned to the crushed house.

  
Carla had a sad smile on her face "Thank you Hannes."

  
"HANNES, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER!" Eren yelled reaching a hand out, Faye and Mikasa were facing away from the house, but Eren was unlucky enough to be facing the house.

  
"EREN! FAYE! MIKASA! STAY ALIVE!" She screamed, reaching a hand out as if to meet her son's hand. When they were out of earshot, she covered her mouth with her hand. "Don't leave me..." She said with a scared voice.

  
The titan's foot came crashing down behind her as it foraged through the rubble and picked up Carla.

  
"STOOOOOOOOP" Eren yelled, tears falling off of his face as Carla struggled in the titan's hand. The titan reached it's other arm to grab Carla's upper torso and yanked, breaking her spine.

  
Mikasa looked away from the scene while Eren stared, horrified. Faye turned her head to look at the disaster, barely missing the breaking of her mother's spine. The titan lifted Carla's limp body to it's mouth and opened it's mouth slowly, as if to taunt the traumatised kids. 

  
The titan finally bit down, blood from Carla's body sprinkling throughout the air like petals in the wind, some landing on the Jaeger sibling's faces.

  
That day, humanity received a grim reminder.

  
Home was a pen.

  
And humanity, **Cattle**.


	2. That Day: The Fall of Shiganshina Chapter 2

**845**

**Shiganshina District Outskirts**

**Wall Maria South**

Titans continue to pour into Shiganshina District, eating residents left and right. Screams ring out from the residents as they are devoured. The Garrison soldiers who were stationed in Shiganshina were either fruitlessly trying to fight the Titans or manning the gates and trying to get people on the boats.

Hannes ran through the streets, carrying the three children, finally passing the gate. Eren snapped out of his shock and turned to Hannes with angry tears in his eyes, slamming his elbow on Hannes's head. "Damn it! Stop it Eren!

Eren didn't stop, slamming his elbow again "You son of a bitch! We could've saved her!" He slammed again "We almost had her out! Why did you stop us?! WHY?!"

"Damn it Eren, Stop!" Hannes yelled before throwing Eren. 

"Eren!" Faye yelled out before running over to her brother, Mikasa walked over checking Eren for injuries.

"Look... There's nothing you could've done for her, you understand?" Eren and Faye looked at Hannes. "You're a kid; you're weak."

Eren's face was overcome with pure anger as he launched a punch at the soldier. Hannes caught the punch, looking at the ground. "I'm worse. When push came to shove, I was too frightened to hold my ground. Your mother died because I'm a damn coward!" Hannes looked at the boy, eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry."

Faye wrapped her arms around Eren and began to silently cry. Hannes released Eren's fist as the boy wrapped an arm around his sister, both crying quietly. Mikasa looked to the ground

Two bodies lay on the floor of a cabin. One with blood on his stomach, the other with a large gash between her shoulder and neck.

_It happened again._

* * *

  
Armin sat with his grandfather on the boat, looking at the docks to spot his friends, concerned for their safety after he told Hannes where they were. He saw soldiers on the docks trying to direct the fleeing residents of Shiganshina. "Armin. You best have a seat." He turned to see his grandfather talking to him.

"I will. Just keeping an eye out for my friends." He said, resuming his search. His eyes widened and began to wave as he saw Eren, Faye and Mikasa with Hannes. "There they are-!" His smile fell as he noticed the traumatised look on Eren and Faye's face, as well as Mikasa's stoic look. "Eren... Faye..."

Grandpa Arlert spoke up "I wouldn't try to call out just now. Give 'em their space. God only knows what they've just seen."

Eren, Faye and Mikasa walked up to sit next to Armin, Eren's eyes especially had a look of true trauma, the scene he had just witnessed replaying over and over. Faye still silently clung to Eren, crying silently, the two had witnessed more than any child ever should. Mikasa was lucky enough to have looked away, missing the bite.

"This isn't real. This is a nightmare."

"God help us. God help us. God help us."

Citizens on the boat were quietly muttering to themselves. Panicked shouting arose from the docks as the Garrison Soldiers raised the drawbridges to the boat.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"What are the rest of us supposed to do?"

"I'm sorry, it's at full capacity!"

"You can't do this! Please!"

"At least let our children on board!"

"Look, there's nothing we can do! Push off, now!"

The Garrison soldier patted the side of the boat. The boat began to move down the river.

"Don't leave us!"

"There's still room!"

Armin's head turned as people began to try and jump on the ship, they could see the gate begin to close in an attempt to seal the District, even though many soldiers and civilians were still inside.

Rumblings were heard from the district, like footsteps. Even though the boat was far from the district by now, Eren, Faye and Mikasa turned their heads to the gate as the rumblings got louder. Suddenly the gate burst open as a 15m Titan, covered in armoured plates rammed through the gate. Debris spread across the small town and fields on the outskirts of Shiganshina.

  
Onlookers from the boat murmured to themselves.

"That's it. We're all dead."

"We're dead and standing at the gates to Hell."

 _It's gone. Our house. It's all gone. Forever. Forever._ Eren's thoughts turned to his mother. _Why was I always such a brat? Why did I always fight her? I never said, "I love you." Now I'll never get to. Never!_ Eren's eyes gazed from the gate to Faye. _We have nobody left... Except each other._ His eyes turned to Mikasa and Armin. 

"There's nothing you could've done for her, you understand?" Hannes's words passed through Eren's head.

_Because I'm a kid. Because I'm weak. Because every last one of us is a damn coward!_

Teardrops fell from Eren's eyes as faces flashed through his mind. Hannes. Grisha. Armin. Carla. Mikasa. Faye. Tears landed in his hand as he realised how much he has left. Anger coursed through Eren's veins as he clenched his fist and stood up. "No. This is over."

Faye looked up at Eren in confusion "Eren..." She said in a small voice as her brother moved to the front of the boat.

Armin stood and walked over to Eren, reaching his hand out. "What's wrong? You see something-?" Armin was interrupted when Eren slapped his hand away. "Eren?"

"I'm going to put a stop to this!" Eren gripped the side of the boat. "I'll kill them all. Every last one of them!." Eren said with angry tears flowing as he gripped the wood harder.

Faye, Armin and Mikasa looked in shock "Eren..." Faye said.

**In terrified haste, The Central Government declared the Outlier Districts a lost cause and decreed all mankind retreat behind Wall Rose. Estimates held that nearly ten-thousand lives were lost the Titan offensive.**

* * *

  
**Path to Trost District**

**Wall Rose South**

A cart rode down a dirt path, racing towards the Trost District, where the Shiganshina refugees waited _Eren. Faye. Carla. Mikasa._ Grisha Jaeger rode in a horse-drawn carriage. _Please be alive!_ Tears fell from his eyes as he grit his teeth.

_Eren! Stay_ _with me, boy! Wake up!_

 _Stop it!_ _Please, you're scaring me! I don't understand what you're trying to do!_

_You don't have to! Just give me your arm!_

_No! You're insane! Mom's death pushed_ _you off the deep end!_

_Shut up!_

_Get off! Let me go!_

_Damn you, this is the only way!_

_You're not making any sense!_

_You cannot forget the key! Whatever you do, you must reach it! It's the way to the Truth! One day you'll understand!_

Eren's eyes flew open as a bell rang out. His eyes cleared to the sight of Faye and Mikasa sat next to him, Faye with a worried look, Mikasa with a stoic-but-concerned look. "What happened?"

"Hey. It's okay. You were just dreaming." Mikasa says to him.

Eren rubs his head. "I swear I saw Dad, he was-- It felt so real."

Faye's eyes widen. "You saw Papa? Where is h-"

"It was just a nightmare. Shake it off." Mikasa said firmly.

Eren paused before responding. "Yeah."

Eren stood, Mikasa faced him. "Come on. They're handing out food rations near the warehouse." Mikasa walked out of the warehouse.

  
Eren began to walk out of the room before his hand was tugged, he turned his head and saw Faye looking up at him. Eren gave her a soft smile and gently grasped her hand, the Jaeger siblings walked out of the warehouse.

_No matter what, as long as I'm alive, I'll keep you safe. I promise._

They were the only family each other had left...

* * *

  
**A few days later, throngs of starved refugees were put to plough in the wastelands as a last-ditch effort to raise food. But the cold, hard ground yielded nothing. And the following year, 846, the remaining refugees old enough to serve in the military were tasked with reclaiming Wall Maria, including Grandpa Arlert. Of the 250,000 sent, nearly twenty percent of the surviving population...**   
**Not even two hundred made it back. While it did nothing to drive back the Titans, their sacrifice did at least lessen the effects of famine within the Interior.**

Eren gritted his teeth as Armin cried, clutching his grandfather's hat. "We have to find a way to stop them. Our lives will never be our own until we do. This world will never feel like home." Eren's eyes steeled with resolve. "That's it. Next year I'll be applying to join the Cadets. To become strong enough to fight back."

Armin looked up, wiping his tears. "I'm with you."

Eren turned to him "You don't have to--"

"I do."

"Me too" Mikasa nodded.

"I'm going too." Faye said.

"Damn it! I'm not trying to drag you in. Look, there's no point in following me to my death!"

"And if I can help it, then it won't be your death." Mikasa said stoically.

Faye nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah an' we said we'd do things together Eren!" 

Eren sighed before nodding. "All right, together then."

* * *

  
**847**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground**

**Southern Wall Rose**

Two years later, and the Shiganshina Quadrio were present among the cadet corps.

The soon-to-be 104th Cadet Corps were lined up in rows. Mikasa and Armin were in Row one and three respectively. Eren and Faye, due to their shared last names, were positioned next to each other. Their Commandant walked up to the stage to speak. He was a 6'7 tall bald man, his name? Keith Shadis.

"Straighten those spines, piss-ants! The 104th Cadet Corps Boot Camp starts now! Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Commandant Keith Shadis; And you will grow to hate me. Training is gonna be a white-knuckle ride through Hell. If I've done my job, you'll be waking up in a cold sweat from memories of this place every night for the rest of your miserable lives. Right now, you're nothing. Livestock. But over the next three, soul-crushing years, you'll learn to take down your own Titan. Remember this moment when you come face to face with him, 'cause here's where you ask yourself: Am I a fighter, or am I food? Am I gonna be ground up to pulpy human grist 'tween boulder-sized incisors. Or am I gonna be the one to bite?!"

Eren's gaze steeled. _Oh I'm a fighter alright. And by the time I'm done, Every last titan will be eliminated._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the beginning of the Cadets Arc, which will omit some of Eren's ODM fuck-up, purely because it would be much the same as in canon, though it will still happen, and i might include a few scenes with it in.  
> The chapter afterwards will adapt Distress, but you might be able to guess what will be changed


	3. A Dim Light Amid Despair: Humanity's Comeback

**847**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground**

**Southern Wall Rose**

Commandant Shadis walked between the lines of stiff cadets. Initiating the rite of passage, he would shout at cadets to intimidate and break them. However, he would walk past people if he could tell that a bit of mere shouting would not affect them, the survivors of Shiganshina and the Fall of Wall Maria... Or rather the ones who had seen the worst of it, because not all of the Shiganshina natives escaped Shadis's shouting.

"YOU THERE, RUNT!"

Armin quickly saluted, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead "SIR!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Shadis shouted.

"Armin Arlert from Shiganshina District sir!"

"That's a ridiculous name! Did your parents give it to you?!" 

"It was my grandfather sir!" Brief memories of Grandpa Arlert appeared in Armin's mind, but he shook them off.

"Arlert! Why are you here?!"

"TO HELP HUMANITY OVERCOME THE TITANS!"

"Wonderful to hear! You'll be a great light snack for them!" Shadis grabbed Armin's head and twisted him to face the other way. "ROW 3, ABOUT FACE" Shadis walked away, leaving Armin with a terrified face.

Eren and Faye observed as Shadis walked around intimidating cadets, Eren made sure to note down some names in his head.

_Thomas Wagner, Mina Carolina, Samuel Linke-Jackson._

Shadis eventually stopped in front of a long-faced boy, who Eren decided looked like a horse. Shadis leaned forward to be face to face. "And who the hell are you?!"

"Jean Kirschtein, from the Trost District"

Shadis straightened his back "And why are you here?"

Jean's face had a light smirk, betrayed by a bead of sweat on his forehead. "To join the Military Police and live in the interior!"

Faye looked to her brother, and noticed a frown on his face.

"Oh. You wanna live in the interior, do you?" To the naked eye it would look like Jean had impressed Shadis.

"Yes!"

Shadis' forehead crashed down onto Jean's, knocking the boy onto the ground. Faye let out a light breath akin to a gasp, while Eren withheld a snort. Serves him right.

"Who said you could sit?! If you can't handle this, you can forget about the Military Police!" Now Eren risked full blown laughter, but withheld it.

The next boy Shadis intimidated was a freckled boy named Marco Bott, who also wanted to join the military police, though seemed to be more sincere in his goals. Eren and Faye could respect that. Faye's mind quickly shifted to panic as Shadis approached her. 

"And who the hell are you?!"

Faye gulped and quickly saluted. "F-Faye Jaeger sir, from Shiganshina District."

"Is everyone from Shiganshina a stubby little worm like you?!"

Faye tensed and her eyes closed, she'd only known fear like this two years ago. "I'm afraid so sir!"

"And why are you here cadet?!"

"To assist in humanity's victory sir!"

Shadis gave Faye a glare. "Excellent, more Titan chow!" He said before walking off.

Faye noticed how Shadis had skipped over Eren. _Lucky_.

After filing through more people, Shadis came upon a short boy with a buzz cut head. "You're next! Who the hell are you?!" 

"Connie Springer! I'm from Ragako Village on the south side of Wall Rose!" The boy said, saluting the wrong way.

Within a second, Shadis had Connie's head between his hands and lifted him in the air. "You have it backwards, Connie Springer! It was the first thing you were taught! This salute expresses your resolve to give your heart to the people!" 

Faye noticed that a row behind Connie, a reddish-brown haired girl had a potato in her hand and brought it up to her mouth. _She's not really gonna do that is she? Not even Eren would be that dumb._

"Is your heart on your right side?!"

CHOMP

 _She did it._ Faye mentally facepalmed, her brother stared in confusion.

Shadis stared in straight-up shock at the gall of this girl. "Hey, you." The instructor dropped Connie and walked over to the girl. "What do you think you're doing?"

The girl in question looked around to see who he was addressing before taking another bite, much to the shock and horror of the onlookers. 

Shadis' face contorted in anger. "YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY SHIT-LIST, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

The girl chewed quickly, swallowed, and saluted with a potato. "Sasha Braus from Dauper Village, on the south side of Wall Rose!"

Shadis stared incredulously "Sasha Braus huh, What is that you're holding?"

Sasha, with a completely serious face said. "A steamed potato, Sir! I found one in the mess hall that was ready to be eaten!"

Shadis stared, confused. "So you stole it, why?"

"It looked quite delicious, and it was getting cold, so I gave it shelter in my stomach now."

Faye could barely contain the mirth on her face, she looked to Eren and saw him doing the same thing. 

"No, I don't understand. Why did you eat the potato?" 

Sasha looked at Shadis with a look of pure confusion. "Are you asking me why people eat potatoes, Sir?" Silence spread throughout the field.

Shadis' anger had dissipated into outright shock and confusion.

Sasha broke off 1/5 of the potato. "Here sir, have half." She said, giving the smaller part to Shadis.

"...Half?"

Sasha gave off a... smirk? smile? Whatever it was, Shadis forced her to either run until she drops, or skip dinner. 

She chose the former.

As they were dismissed for dinner, Eren and Faye sighed and shared a collected thought. 

_Some first day huh._

  
Eren stood on a balcony outside the mess hall with Faye and Armin. Mikasa had gone to the girls' barracks to put her scarf in the locker, she didn't want to risk breaking the dress code on the first few days, but would start wearing it afterwards. Food was being prepared at the moment and was set to be ready in an hour. Eren turned to his left and looked past Faye to see three people walking over, he remembered their names from the rite of passage as Marco, Mina and Connie. The latter of whom waved to the three. Eren suddenly remembered that nobody besides his friends knew his name because he was skipped by Shadis.

"Yo! Armin right?" Armin looked over, a little surprised at the recognition.

"That's me, you're Connie right?" The bald boy gave a smirk

"Yep." Armin and Connie shook hands, the former surprised at the firmness of the handshake. 

Faye bounded up to the newly arrived trio "It's nice to meet you guys"

Mina smiled "You're Faye right?" Faye nodded excitedly. 

Marco turned his attention to Eren. "I don't remember Shadis mentioning you, did he skip you?"

Eren nodded. "Yeah he did, Eren Jaeger by the way." He introduced himself.

Mina noticed the correlation. "Jaeger? I'm guessing you're related?"

Eren and Faye nodded. "Yup, Eren's my big brother." Faye says as Eren wraps an arm around her shoulder and gives her a shoulder-hug. 

"Woah," Connie's voice diverts everyone's attention. "He still has Potato Girl running. Man, she's been at it for five solid hours." 

Faye stared surprised "Wow, She's really something huh."

"Still, being told to run until she's on the verge of death didn't seem to bother her as much as being told she has to skip meals." Eren observed. 

Marco realised why: "Dauper's a small hunting village in the mountains, isn't it?"

Faye looked over and saw a cart with cadets inside. "Eren, what's that?"

Eren looked at the cart and frowned slightly "They're dropouts. They asked to work in the fields instead." 

Faye looked at her brother surprised. "Woah seriously? but it's only the first day..." 

Eren shrugged. "That's just how it is. If you can't cut it here, you have to leave. I can't believe anyone would want to pick up rocks and pull up plants though..."

Marco turned to Eren. "Come to think of it, we haven't heard anything about where you're from."

Eren put his hand on Armin's shoulder, other arm still wrapped around Faye. "Shiganshina, same as these two."

Connie, Mina and Marco's eyes widened. Connie spoke "Woah, so you guys saw it right?" He leaned forward, a grin overcoming his face. "The Colossal?"  
Faye looked up at Eren nervously, partially because she knew that questioning him on it could lead to a blow-up, as well as the fact that the memories were coming back to the both of them.

Marco motioned for Connie to stop. "H-hey don't mention that." 

Eren's face turned more serious "Yeah we did, it's... not a day we like talking about."

* * *

  
Apparently, when the word spread, that particular detail was lost. Eren and Faye were pestered with questions about the Colossal, the Armoured and Shiganshina. Much to his annoyance, some were doubting Eren saw the Colossal at all.

"For the last time, yes I saw the Colossal." Eren said with a frown, with his table surrounded by people. Mikasa had wisely decided to move away to another table, a luxury Armin didn't have. If it was just Eren, they could handle a blow-up, but with Faye there: either they'd both get pissed, or it would upset Faye, causing Eren to possibly go all-out ballistic.

Surrounding Eren's table were: Connie, Marco, Mina, Thomas, Daz, Nac, Mylieus and a few other cadets.

"Woah seriously?" Thomas asked, eyes wide.

"Okay, so how tall was he?" Connie asked.

Eren swirled his spoon in his soup. "Tall enough to peek it's head over the wall." Glancing to his left, he saw Faye's brow begin to lower. Eren worried that this was bringing back bad memories and frowned.

"What about the Armoured?" Eren blinked in confusion. "The one who broke Wall Maria."

Eren raised a brow. "Is that what they're calling it? In all the panic I just saw it as another Titan."

"No way, so what's a normal one like?"

Carla's death flashed before both Jaeger's eyes.

Eren dropped his spoon and heard a light sniffle next to him, Faye felt a few tears roll down her face. 

"C'mon, that's enough questions ok?" Marco said to the others. "I'm sure they'd rather not relive what they went through."

Connie winced "Sorry man, we didn't mean to-"

"It's alright." Eren said, picking up the bread next to him, Faye wiped the tears from her space and looked at her big brother. "Sure the Titans are scary enough, one look and you'll know why they're our natural enemies"

Some cadets got a nervous look on their face. 

"But we have no choice if we want to take back what we've lost, besides, once you know what you're doing a Titan is nothing." Eren bit into his bread, gripping his spoon. "I've waited years to be trained as a solder, so that I can join the Survey Corps and kill every Titan I see."

Some of the cadets were surprised by Eren's words, Faye was looking at her brother in admiration, while Armin and Mikasa were just surprised that Eren didn't become enraged, the latter moved to sit back next to Armin.

"Oi oi oi, are you crazy or something?"

Eren turned to the side to see Jean smirking at him. "Huh?" He said with a frown beginning to form on his face, remembering who Jean was from the rite of passage.

Faye looked over to where Jean was, not liking how he was talking to her brother. 

"Not that it's any of my business, but joining the Survey Corps is like a death sentence." Jean said shrugging.

Eren sat up straight "I guess we'll see, or at least I will." Eren said with a look of disdain on his face. "Considering you seem all too content with running off to the interior with the MPs."

"I think it's better than being a tough-guy wannabe pretending not to be as piss-scared as the rest of us." Jean said, before looking up as Eren stood up. "Huh?"

Eren had an angry look in his eyes as he stood up and glared. "You tryin' to pick a fight?"

"Stop it guys." Marco protested. Faye stood up with Eren.

Jean stood with a chuckle "Alright then, Makes no difference to me." Jean said as the two of them walked to face one-another. Eren with a gaze of rage, Jean with a lazy smirk. Faye flanked Eren's side, Jean's eyes quickly flicked over to Faye, but moved back to meet Eren's gaze.

Suddenly, a loud bell rang out, signalling the end of the dinner period. 

Jean sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to dismiss your ideas. Let's call it even." Jean held out his hand.

Eren frowned at Jean's hand. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too." He said, slapping away Jean's hand in a passive aggressive manner. Faye stuck her tongue out at Jean before following Eren.

Jean smirked at the exiting Jaegers, before his eyes widened as Mikasa passes, her hair flowing behind her. A blush appeared on Jean's face. "H-Hey, you! Uh, umm..." Jean began to stutter. "I've just never seen anyone who looks like you before..." Jean paused "S-Sorry! You have very pretty black hair."

Mikasa just stares at him. "Thank you" She says before leaving without a second thought, Jean follows to see Mikasa catch up to the Jaeger siblings, standing on Eren's left while Faye stands on his right, holding onto his forearm as they walk. 

"Stop worrying, it's no big deal." Eren says dismissively, Faye looks up while Eren and Mikasa argue.

"You never think things through when you get worked up."

"Again with this?" Eren sighed. "If you wanna worry about something, worry about your hair length." He reached toward her, casually flicking her hair, causing Faye to giggle at the sight. "It's gonna catch up with you in a bad way when we start on the ODMs."

Mikasa gently pinched a strand. "All right. I'll cut it. But how short should I go with it?" 

Jean watched as the trio walked, Armin and Connie walking out of the door, Connie humming cheerfully. Jean suddenly wiped his hand on the back of Connie's shirt. 

"What the hell?! Leave my clothes alone damnit!" Connie exclaimed. "What did you wipe on me?!"

Jean faced forward, dulled eyes and a monotonous voice. "Don't worry, just my faith in humanity."

Armin sniggered at Jean's words and quickly ran to catch up to his friends.

**Cadet Barracks-Boys Side**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground**

**Wall Rose South**

The Cadet's Barracks was one big building, though it was split into two rooms, with the only access points being from outside.

The new sleeping arrangements were certainly different to what Eren was used to in the refugee camps, where the four of them slept together. Eren flopped down on his bunk which was at the edge of the room, retiring for the day. The bed below him was where Armin slept, and Faye and Mikasa shared bunks in their barracks, which were right next to the wall on the opposite side. Eren looked down to see his best friend reading a book he'd brought with him.

Eren reflected back on the day so far, he'd met some... interesting people for sure, but now he could relax... if it wasn't for the other boys in the room who had decided that it was not time to sleep, but rather time for a discussion... about girls-something Eren didn't usually pay attention to.

_Seriously? It's only the first day and this is already being discussed._

Reiner had been the one to initiate the conversation. He seemed to have taken interest in the short blonde one, Christa, Eren vaguely remembered.

He then heard Jean mention Mikasa's name, causing Eren's face to scrunch in confusion as he listened in. Eren had missed the brief interaction between Jean and Mikasa.

"She's just different from the rest, I've never seen anyone like her."

Jean's words left a sour taste in Eren's mouth, considering who the last people who said that about Mikasa were. _I suppose she does look different, and I guess he's right about her being pretty..._

_Wait where did that come from?_

Eren was suddenly snapped out of his stupor when he heard what was said next...

"What about that short girl Faye?" Eren wasn't sure who asked, but his temper flared rapidly

Before anyone answered, they looked up and were met with a glare promising a fate even worse than death from Eren, Reiner cleared his throat and decided to divert the conversation. "Moving on, what regiment are you guys gonna go for?."

Little did Reiner know, he'd only prove to set Eren off further, or rather, allow Jean to.

Armin sighed, not even bothering to diffuse Eren.

* * *

**The Next Day**

Eren was sat out on a bench, having just had a massive blunder on the balance test. He was at quite possibly his lowest point since Shiganshina, and if he failed the retest he could be forced to drop out. He heard footsteps to his left, and saw Faye walking towards him, "Hey Eren." she said as she sat down next to him. "Are you ok?"

Eren gave her a small smile as she sat down. " Not really Faye." He said with a sigh, "It's just that if I fail tomorrow, that's it, I'm finished." Eren finished with a sombre look. The two sat in silence until Eren felt two arms wrap around his waist, he looked down to see Faye giving him a hug. "Faye..."

Faye looked up at her brother and smiled "No matter what happens, I'll always be by your side, you're my big brother after all."

Eren returned the hug. "Thanks Faye..." Faye giggled and placed her head on Eren's chest as he gently placed a hand on her head, the Jaeger siblings held each other closer.

**The next day, during Eren's retest, it was discovered that Eren's harness was broken, and when Eren swapped it out, he passed with flying colours.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up is Distress and, for the first time we'll learn what happens when you truly enrage Eren Jaeger


	4. Distress: Humanity's comeback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cadets embark on a new task, and learn just what Eren Jaeger's rage is capable off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically just Distress but what if Eren went batshit with a few knives.

**848**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground Outskirts**

**Wall Rose South**

The 104th Cadet Corps were being given a new optional assignment: a mock-reconnaissance mission in which the groups would be split into two. The aim was to split up and get to a specific point, trade information, then return on the same paths.

The teams that had been established were as follows.

Team A: Thomas, Mikasa, Reiner, Bertolt, Daz, and Annie, with Thomas as leader and Mikasa as the scribe

Team B: Eren, Faye, Armin, Marco, Mina, Christa, Jean, Connie and Sasha, with Marco as Leader and Armin as the scribe

Some cadets, such as Ymir, Nac, Mylieus, Hannah and Franz had chosen not to participate.

Team B rode on horses down a rocky mountain path.

Armin looked up from his notepad to look at his team, Eren was occasionally looking ahead at where he was going or turning to his left and talking to Faye, he also checked at his waist where he kept a few knives hidden (which is a habit he kept from the Trost refugee camp.), Connie's head was tilted back, bobbing as his horse galloped, eyes glazed, Sasha looked miserable, Jean was at the back of the group, he yawned with a hand over his mouth.

Marco turned to the team. "So we're not allowed to rush this?" Prompting Armin to check the rules he noted down, the blonde boy nodded.

“We’d also be stupid if we did,” Jean said. “We can take our time.”

"You don't know your lower limit, if you're gonna take it slow then I'm going ahead." Eren said, tugging the reins of the horse to move ahead of the group.

"Eren!" Faye exclaimed, moving ahead to catch up with him, Armin facepalmed at the Jaeger's antics.

"Wait E-" Marco stuttered "We have to maintain formation!" The freckled boy turned to Jean. "What do we do Jean?"

Jean scoffed. "Like I care, extra effort here doesn't count for squat for the Military Police."

Marco paused "That's... not true" He said before shaking his head. "In any case we should get on with the exercise."

“Hey,” Eren shouted. “Hurry up, will ya? Don’t you have any endurance for this?” Eren and Faye had now put a small distance between the group. 

“It doesn’t matter if I’m complaining,” Jean shot back, agitated.

“If those two are gonna argue then it would be great if time passed faster" Connie murmured to Mina and Sasha.

Mina sighed. “You got that one right, we have a long road ahead of us.”

Jean let out a bored sigh. "This is so fucking boring."

  
**A few minutes later**

  
Jean heard a small slapping sound and looked at the floor to find a lizard on the ground. "Jeez, damn lizard's joining us on the same route huh?"

"That's a rare sight” Marco commented.

Faye looked at the lizard with an awed expression. "It's kinda cute y'know."

Eren looked at his sister with a slightly weirded out expression. _Cute? Really Faye?_

“They’re delicious, you know!” Sasha informed the others.

Eren's weirded out expression shifted over to Sasha, along with everyone else's.

Christa voiced everyone's question. "What?"

“They really are!” Sasha said, face completely serious and excited. “My family and I used to eat them, they taste like chicken.”

"Chicken?" Mina repeated incredulously.

"Yup!" Sasha nodded vigorously.

"You can cook?" Jean smirked at Sasha.

“Of course I can! Piece of cake!” The food-crazed girl responded.

Jean's brow lowered and his mouth twisted into a confident smirk. “All right, then!”

He kicked the horse on the side and began to chase the lizard down.

Marco yanked his horse's reins and held his hand out. "H-hey Jean!" 

Jean looks over his shoulder with a mischievous smirk. "If hunting is part of the exercise, then what’s better than getting that lizard?!” 

Faye shouted out in panic "JEAN NO!"

Eren gritted his teeth, swearing under his breath. "Shit, I'm going ahead." He stated firmly, before kicking his horse's side, racing after Jean.

Jean began to close in on the lizard, drawing his left blade, snickering before raising it up. "Gotcha!" He shouted before swinging his sword.

**CLANG**

Before Jean's sword could butcher the lizard, Eren's blade had blocked the strike. Jean looked up in anger. 

“What the hell are you doing?!” Jean demanded.

"This isn't a fucking game Jean!" Eren shouted back.

The other cadets watching simply frowned at their antics., with the exception of Faye who let out a sigh of relief that the lizard was ok.

"We don’t even have an instructor!" Jean yelled, slashing his blade for emphasis. "This training's not going to get us anywhere!"

Marco, Faye and Connie caught up, the former two dismounting. "Stop it guys!" Marco reprimanded.

"You're acting like brats!" Connie chided.

Jean whirled around to face Connie. "You're one to talk! I don’t want to hear that from you!"

"Jean! Get a hold of yourself!" Marco glared as he walked over to Jean.

"That’s not important right now!"

"If we delay," Marco frowning, "it’ll have to be reported! Armin, please don’t record this yet." he added, turning to the blond.

"R-right..." Armin stuttered out.

While Marco and Connie were chiding Jean, Faye ran over to Eren. "Do you two have to fight all the time?"

Eren's anger dissipated slightly. "He just pisses me off so much, I hate that bastard!" 

Faye sighs, she can't deny that Jean annoys her too sometimes. "At least you stopped him from hurting the lizard." Faye's voice had risen back to it's normal cheeriness. Eren's lips twist into a slight smile, glad to see that his sister wasn't upset because of a potential dead lizard...

That smile wouldn't last long as Eren caught the tail end of Jean, Marco, Connie and Armin's conversation/argument.

"Write down:" Jean Kirschtein tries to find food during the exercise, but gets interrupted by Eren Jaeger."

Eren's temper flares immediately. "What the hell did you just say?!" He said furiously.

Faye facepalmed.

"It’s delicious!" Sasha screeched and startled Jean.

The entire team of Cadets simply stared at the food-crazed girl. Marco was the first to recover, letting out a resigned sigh. "Let's just keep going"

Quiet murmurs erupted from the group as they started moving.

Little did the group know, the other cadets were being faced with a dilemma, their ODM Gear had been stolen, and the thieves were on the loose...

* * *

  
**Later that night**

A campfire crackles surrounded by rocks. The cadets sat around the fire in a circle, mostly silent aside the crunching of food and quiet discussions, mostly jokes shared between Connie and Sasha or Eren, Faye and Armin having a quiet talk. The horses were tied to trees nearby, eating the grass.

Jean unwrapped a ration bar. "So this is what squad supplies taste like..." he said, chewing on the dry substance.

"We'd be better off if we'd caught the lizard." Sasha whined.

"Enough..." Jean drawled. "I've heard enough about lizards for one night."

Eren didn't look up from his bowl, a frown on his face "Weren’t you the one hunting one just now?"

Faye looks over to Jean, preparing for the inevitable rebuttle.

"Well, we are supposed to hunt Titans, right?"

Faye looked back to her brother, a deadpan expression on her face. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Eren snarled out. "Why the hell did you even join the Cadet Corps?!" Eren stood up, clenching his fists. 

Jean stood up and threw his rations down, causing the other cadets to gasp at the blatant disregard for food. "To live something better than a humble life, at least."

"What did you say?!" Armin quickly went to grab the notepad in case he needed to record it. "Some things can be tolerated, and others can’t!"

Marco quickly motioned for Armin to stop. "Armin, it's fine. It's just mealtime conversation." Beads of sweat rolled down the freckled boy's forehead.

Jean let out a smug laugh. "You really think that when a real Titan show up, the results of training hard will actually pay off?" He smirked. "Good l-"

Eren lunged at Jean, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Eren's voice was filled with rage.

"EREN!" Faye yelled out as she reached to grab her big brother's arm to try and reign him in.

Christa stuck her hands out "Stop it you guys!"

Mina and Connie simply watched as the situation, while Sasha tried to mediate the situation.

"How about we actually hunt lizards?" Sasha suggested nervously. "You'll feel better after that!"

"That's my line!" Jean briefly took his eyes away from his rival and faced Sasha. "Shut up about the damn lizard!"

"Let go damnit! You won’t be able to do anything, anyways!"

Faye tore her gaze from the fighting boys for a moment, hearing something in the forest, turning back as she heard a grunt of pain from Jean and the sound of a fist impacting, she saw the tail end of Eren's punch. "Uhm, guys..." She said as she tried to get their attention, but was ignored. 

Eren launched a kick into Jean's leg. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, I'LL BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!" The others in the group effectively spent the rest of the evening wrangling the two boys away from each other.

  
**A few hours later**

Team B decided to sleep in shifts, with one person keeping watch at a time.

The cadets were lying in their sleeping bags, Connie was lying next to the fire, half of his body outside the bag and snoring loudly. Sasha was curled into a ball next to hi, Marco, Armin and Mina were lying normally next to a log, with Jean near them with his head resting on the log. Christa was sleeping not too far from either group. Eren was asleep in his bag next to where Faye was keeping lookout...

Or at least she should have been, as she'd fallen into a light state of sleep. A faint sound of leaves rustling and quiet murmuring began to stir her. She opened her eyes, vision blurry and saw four silhouettes. 

Suddenly everything went dark.

* * *

"...ye?"

"...aye?"

Eren Jaeger was sometimes a deep sleeper, when his dreams weren't disturbed by flashbacks to that day. But if one thing could make that redundant, it's his sister.

"Faye?!" Armin had been the one calling out, before he turned to the now waking group "Guys, Faye's missing!"

Eren's eyes snapped open and he lurched up, head turning wildly. "What?!" He said.

"Faye's gone missing!" Armin said again, facing Eren this time. 

Jean, who had quickly went to check if anything else was missing, piped up. "That's not all, the ODM gear is gone too!"

"Shit..." Connie frowned "Shit, this is bad"

Under his breath, Eren muttered "Faye."

Sasha tried sniffing around for any scents, a common tactic she used to use while hunting, but came up empty handed until her eyes happened on a set of four footprints heading south. "Guys, there's some footprints here"

Christa looked to Marco and Armin, given that they were team leader and scribe respectively. "What do we do about this?" Christa said in a worried voice.

Marco's face was practically dripping with sweat "Well, uh... Maybe we find the other group and tell them, or tell an instructor."

Armin shook his head "That'll take too long, they could be long gone by then, Eren what do you think we should... do?" Armin began to slow his speech as he got a look at Eren's face.

Eren's pupils were dilated and glazed over, his brows furrowed and his body deathly still.

Jean tried to snap him out of his stupor. "Oi Eren, you gonna say something?"

Eren clenched his teeth, turned and walked in the direction of the footprints, the same expression on his face, his right hand reaching into his pocket, pulling out a switchblade and flicking it open. 

Connie spotted the knife and his eyes widened. "Is that a fucking knife?!"

Jean looked at the knife in confusion. "Jaeger why the hell do you have a knife?!"

Eren didn't respond, he was practically in a trance. He gripped his knife with murderous intent, letting out a low, inhuman growl. The cadets who had followed him began to feel a wave of fear rolling over them.

Marco was the first to speak up, stuttering. "Eren... Where are you going?" Armin caught up to Eren, hearing a low mumbling of one phrase.

 _**"Sie haben Faye genommen, Ich wer** _ _**de sie alle töten."** _

It had been a while since Armin heard Eren speak his native language, Armin had to take a moment to translate:

_**"They took Faye, I'll kill them all."** _

Armin froze as he translated that, recalling a story he'd overheard from a group of Garrison members back in Shiganshina, about a string of murders happening in the forests around the district. A rumour he began hearing around the time Eren and Mikasa met for the first time. 

The blonde had put two and two together and realised that the events were related. He understood that Eren was being completely serious. Eren was going to murder the kidnappers for daring to take his precious little sister.

Jean, Connie, Sasha, Marco, Mina and Christa had fallen a few steps behind, scared by Eren's current state. Armin moved back and joined them. "Eren's muttering about killing them." He gulped. "He's being serious."

Mina's face was overcome with horror. "What?!" She whispered out.

Armin explained. "Eren always gets angry when someone tries to hurt Faye, but I've never seen him this angry before..." He trailed off, staring at his best friend.

* * *

  
**Wall Rose South forest.**

**1km away from the Cadet's camp.**

The four smugglers-turned kidnappers were sat near to a cart with the stolen ODM gear. Faye was tied up, with a piece of cloth in her mouth to gag her, also sat in the cart, the smugglers had decided to knock her out cold in order to make things easier.

The first thief motioned to the cart. "So do we leave the girl here when we leave or what?"

The second thief looked to Faye. "She's quite pretty, we may be able to make a pretty good profit if we sell her." The third thief looked around the forest outskirts nodding in agreement, but not saying anything.

The first man nodded, deciding the plan would work. "Do we sell her when we get back to Stohess, or do we do it at Mitras?"

The fourth man pondered. "Mitras has a better process, but demand would be higher in Stohess." He paused. "We're selling the gear in Stohess, so it'd be more efficient if we do it there." The other three nodded in agreement, suddenly Thief #3 stood up.

"I'm gonna go take a leak" He said, walking towards the north to go to relieve himself. He walked for about a minute, finding a suitable bush to urinate in. Unzipping his pants, he let out a sigh of relief. 

While he was looking down he felt an excruciatingly sharp pain in his back and suddenly coughed, a large amount of blood pouring out of his mouth. Turning his head he saw a single narrowed green eye. The dim light faded in his eyes as the man became nothing more than a corpse. A knife was pulled out of the man's back as the green eyes, Eren's, regarded the body with disgust. 

The cadets stared in horror at Eren's actions. Connie being the first to speak. "Holy shit..."

Armin's stare was not as severe, already being aware that this is far from the first life Eren had taken. "I knew he'd do it..."

**Minutes earlier**

Eren was hidden in a bush, having spotted the cart with the ODM gear, presumably Faye was in there too. He overheard the smugglers' conversation about Faye, and realised that he'd seen a similar situation before. 

He decided to use the same solution.

**Present**

Eren stood up after grabbing the knife, pulling out a cloth and cleaning off the blood, muttering. "Damn filthy animals." Eren had long since snapped out of his trance, and was now acting on his own will as opposed to his rage.

Eren snuck back over to the bush he'd observed from, he noticed that the men's guns were about four metres from where they were sat. _Rookie mistake._

Much to the other Cadet's surprise, Eren pulled out another knife and took aim with it. With an odd level of precision only gained through experience only Armin knew he had, Eren threw the knife and it lodged itself right into the second man's throat.

The second man let out a garbled screech as blood poured out of his throat and mouth, he fell to the floor with a loud thud. 

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The first man yelled out, he turned to where the knife came from and runs over to it, before he could do anything though, Eren sprung out and stabbed the man in the eye with his first knife, twisting the knife to cause as much pain as possible, before using a third knife, his final one, to stab the man through the chest, penetrating his lungs, the man dropped to the floor, still alive but bleeding out too fast to be saved.

Eren heard the sound of a gun loading and turned his rage-filled eyes to the fourth man, who had managed to grab the gun. Shit.

"Listen here you psychotic little shit, you make one move and I'll blow your fucking brains out!" He shouted as he pointed the gun at Eren's face. The man's face kept a cool composure, but his hands were visibly shaking. Assessing the odds of getting shot would be the best decision right now...

Armin speaks up from his position. "What do you want from us?" He states, trying to reason.

The man deadpans at Armin. "We're gonna sell your gear of course, it's obvious." He motioned to the cart, not realising what critical mistake he had made.

Eren's eyes wander to the cart where the ODM gear is and spots Faye, his pupils begin to dilate again, protective instinct further driving his rage. Eren, ignoring all logical reasoning, suddenly rushed at the fourth man, both knives in hand. The smuggler fumbled with his gun in a panic, firing a shot but missing. He screamed as Eren thrust both knives through the man's chest.

Eren panted as his rage died down. The other cadets simply stared at the scene before them, eyes wide at the absolutely brutal display Eren performed. The boy in question simply ran over to the cart to untie Faye.

The cart was at a distance to where the rest of the group wouldn't be able hear him. Eren started by removing the gag and then the ropes around her limbs. As he untied her Faye began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open softly, eyes brightening and her mouth twisting into a smile as she saw her big brother.

"Eren!" She shouted out as she enveloped him in a hug, head against his chest. Eren responded by wrapping his arms around Faye and cradling her head close to him. "I was so scared when they took me, they knocked me out." Eren looked down to see his sister's eyes filled with tears of sadness, mixed with some joy. Eren's heart broke at the sight of the normally jovial girl in such a down state. Faye let out some tearful sobs.

"It's okay Faye, I'm here." Eren said soothingly, he began to gently stroke Faye's head, hearing her tearful sobs begin to quieten down. The two Jaegers sat there, letting out content sighs as they stayed in the hugging position. "I promise, I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

The group heard footsteps and saw that Team A emerged from the bushes, Reiner at the front of the group. "We heard yelling, is everything alright?" Team A had entered from part of the forest where the carnage wasn't visible.

Marco, as team leader, responded "...Yeah, things are fine now."

Thomas walked up to the group. "By the way, there's some bandits in the forest, they stole our ODM gear, we came here to warn you guys."

Jean looked at Thomas with a neutral expression. "Yeah, we know, we took care of them, or rather Eren did." 

Team A turned to look at the scene, seeing three dead bodies in a pool of blood, their expressions turning to one of shock, aside from Annie and Mikasa, the former was only internally shocked and the latter wasn't surprised. "Eren did all this...?" Bertolt said in a shaky voice. "I know they were thieves but why this brutal?"

Armin answered. "They took Faye when they raided us." Mikasa's eyes widened slightly, spotting the Jaeger siblings in the cart. She ran over to check on the siblings, Eren was glad to see that she was ok, and vice versa.

Reiner's eyes widened further. "They took her?" 

Armin nodded "Probably for a hostage or ransom."

Thomas turned to the bodies, wincing at the brutality of the scene. "But then how did Eren do all this?" Armin simply pointed to one of the knives on the ground.

Eren walked back over, carrying Faye on his back due to the ropes cutting off circulation to her legs, meaning she couldn't stand up yet.

Both teams simply stared at the blood stains covering Eren's face, yet also the nonchalant face he made, Faye's head resting on his shoulder.

Both teams agreed to head back to base camp and finish the task.

The cadets learned a new lesson that day: If you so much as harm a hair on Faye Jaeger's head, you effectively sign your own death warrant by Eren's hand.

**Later the next morning, the cadets returned, only reporting that some bandits were sited but ran off at a threat from Team A's swords, Eren's blood stains were reported as an injury.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is now the longest chapter I've ever written, as is this fic in both words and chapters!
> 
> Oh by the way Eren and Faye are both native German speakers, they just primarily speak the Eldian language.
> 
> Gonna take a break from writing this for a few days, I got a college assignment to finish.


	5. Night of the Closing Ceremony: Humanity’s Comeback

**850**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground**

**Wall Rose South**

**Three years passed by in the Cadet Corps, and Eren, Faye, Mikasa and Armin had trained their hardest to get where they are, three of the four were set for the top 10, with Armin at the top of his studies.**

**During their time in the training camp, the group had made some lasting friendships, despite their former status as loners back in Shiganshina. Their group now consisted of people like: Reiner Braun, a dependable soldier, looked up to by the others, Bertolt Hoover, quiet and mild-mannered though well trained and capable, Annie Leonhart, cold, aloof yet oddly gets along with Armin, as well as Christa Lenz and Ymir, two girls who are always together, Christa is often referred to as a goddess for her gentle demeanor, while Ymir is cold and cynical**

**Then there's Marco Bott, an idealistic person who aspires to join the Military Police, then there is Jean Kirstein (somehow), as well as Connie Springer and Sasha Braus, the two class clowns, Connie is a self-proclaimed genius (Note: Lowest academic score in the class), Sasha is known as potato girl for her overbearing love of food (Eren swears that she seems familiar to him.)**

**The group, despite their differences, have formed a close bond between one another. Close bonds that, over time, shall be tested in the hardest of circumstances.**

2 Days to Graduation-104th Cadet Corps Evaluation

"Pick up the pace, you lead-heeled laggards!" Shadis shouted to the cadets who were running through a muddy field, pulling back on his horse to the back of the group. Shadis was simultaneously commanding the cadets and doing his evaluations.

 _Reiner Braun. The mind and constitution of a grass-fed ox. Respected by his comrades._ Said boy was now assisting Armin with his backpack, in an attempt to make sure he doesn't fall behind.

 _Armin Arlert. Built like a daffodil, but academically brilliant._ Armin suddenly ran ahead to catch up to Reiner taking back his bag "I’m no one’s burden, you hear me?"

Some time later, the Cadets were running though an ODM test, in which they were tasked with taking down prop-titans. Wires shot through the air, Jean, Bertolt and Annie's gears attached to them, flying towards the titan dummy.

Annie and Bertolt sliced out large chunks of the dummy titan's nape, Jean gritted his teeth as he sliced out a smaller chunk. 

_Annie Leonhart. Gifted with a sword, but does not exactly play well with others._ Annie eyed the fake titan with a disinterested look. 

_Bertolt Hoover. Heaps of native talent but far too mild-mannered_. Bertolt was at the back of the group, swords in hand with a neutral expression.

 _Jean Kirschtein. Head of the class on ODM, also an insufferable smartass with a hair-trigger temper._ Jean's face was screwed up in anger at the size of the slash. 

"Those show-off's think they can just slice and dice?" Jean surged forward, spotting another fake titan and dodging around trees. _Military Police, save a place for Jean._

Before Jean could prepare his sword to strike, he saw Connie suddenly pass above him. "Way to lead the charge! You don’t care if I steal your thunder, right?" Connie said, snickering as he swung for the false titan. Suddenly the nape fell to the ground as Connie's face turned to shock.

Sasha flew past the two, laughing and cheering to herself. "YAHOO, WOO!" Sasha threw her arms above her head, still laughing. _Sasha Braus. Unusually fine instincts. Rarely shares them with her teammates._

Connie just stared, slack-jawed. _Connie Springer. Agile on the switchbacks, but a few sandwiches shy of a picnic._

On another titan, a large gash appears at the top of the nape, penetrating almost to the centre.

Bearing her swords in her hand, Mikasa looked back at the titan she'd just struck. _Mikasa Ackerman. Model cadet. Excels in everything. In fact, it’s no overstatement to call the girl a genius._

On the very same titan, two gashes appeared at the mid-section and the bottom, the former being a mid-sized gash, with the latter being a smaller sized gash though not to much smaller than the middle gash. 

_Damn, still not deep enough_! Eren gritted his teeth looking back at the titan. Behind him, Faye glanced at her brother, proud of him despite only having a middling slice.

_Eren Jaeger. Lacklustre in the classroom, average in the field. But... driven by a sense of purpose that’s almost terrifying._

_Faye Jaeger. At first glance has an overly optimistic outlook, but has surprisingly decent prowess as a soldier, and has a good level of camaraderie._

* * *

**The next day.**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground Cafeteria.**

**Final day of the 104th Cadet Corps.**

**1 Day to Graduation.**

With all examinations done, the 104th Cadets were simply waiting for their final evaluations the next day, upon which they would graduate. Most were just glad they were finally finished, but Eren sat contemplating words he had been told during a sparring session with Annie earlier. 

_"First rule of life, kid. The better you are at dropping the bad guys, the more distance the powers that be put between you. That’s what this whole stupid farce is_ _about."_

_"Face it. You don’t fight the nature of things and win. Look around you, Eren, all the sons of bitches really expect us to do is play the game. Don’t be a pawn."_

Mikasa silently ate, casting occasional curious glances at Eren, Faye was constantly looking to her brother, concerned at his odd level of silence. Eren had told Armin what Annie had said to him and the blonde prodigy was explaining it to Eren.

"I know, okay, and look, I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just the way things are." Eren wasn't particularly listening, preferring instead to listen in on the conversation on the next table. "“Before Wall Maria fell, ODM experts were rare. Only Scouts risked proximity to Titans, and their regiment was small to begin with..."

The conversation in question was happening on the table of Eren's horse-faced rival. "...the key is to rev it up before you leap, just for a sec. That’s how you conserve fuel, let your momentum work for you."

"Still, that’s pretty advanced."

"Duh.” Jean grinned, his chin propped up on his hand. "It’s called having a sixth sense for the finer points of your gear." Faye noticed Eren's brow continuously furrowing, knowing the smug smirk on Jean's face was further angering Eren.

Jean took a glance at Mikasa who, much to his silent chagrin, was ignoring his conversation. "You gotta do the strut if you wanna make the cut." He put his hands on the table. "The MPs only take the best."

"Oh, man, that’d be amazing," Marco said with a smile on his face as he looked up at the ceiling. "Working within a stone’s throw of the King. No greater honour than that.” He raised his mug to his lips.

"Shut up, Marco." Jean smacked Marco on the back of the head, causing the freckled boy to splutter. "You can drop the misty-eyed BS." Jean's eyes were narrowed at Marco, a smirk on his face. "Honour doesn’t have any damn part of it. You just want a nice, cushy job in the Interior, playing glorified sentry."

"That's not-!"

"Listen to you guys." Jean and Marco's heads turned to the emerald-eyed boy on the other table. "Interior? Five years ago, this was part of it."

Faye simply sighed, at first she used to get involved in the fights, backing Eren up. But over the past two years she realised that Eren and Jean only fight over the same thing over and over, so she only jumped in to help her brother when it escalated. Mikasa would usually just get involved to quell Eren's anger.

You got a point to make, friend?” Jean demanded as Eren tilted his head back, taking a drink. “I’m right here.”

"Poor Jean, So misguided." Eren drawled out as he put his mug down, looking coldly to Jean. "Besides, I don’t think your big head will fit into the Interior, anyway."

Quiet giggles emerged from multiple areas, causing Jean to frown. "Very funny."

"Little backwards, isn't it?" Eren said with a spite-filled voice. "Fine-tuning your Titan killing skills so the brass’ll station you somewhere you’ll never see one."

"You’d rather I was good at getting killed? Thanks, but I’ll pass." Jean retorted. " Better to play the system than get gnawed on."

Eren gritted his teeth, standing up with fury etched into his face, "You son of a bitch!"

"Bring it on, you little bastard!" Jean yelled back as he stood up as well.

"Eren!" Faye reached for Eren's arm, knowing that this was about to escalate further, but to no avail. Luckily, Mikasa stood up to diffuse the situation.

"Gentlemen" The oriental girl said, grabbing Eren's hand and lowering it. "Please" Eren stared at Mikasa for a second before looking down.

_Shit, I lost my temper again._

Suddenly Eren felt himself lifted off of the floor by his shirt collar. "You think you can judge me!?" Jean yelled in a fit of jealous anger.

"Huh?! You rip my shirt, you're dead!" Eren shouted back.

Jean's eyes widened in anger "I don't give a damn about your shirt, you piss me off!"

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Suddenly Eren's eyes widened for a split second, darting around the room at Reiner and Annie in realisation. Faye was the only one to notice his sudden gazing before he made a surprise move. 

Eren suddenly raised his hand to grab at Jean's wrist, other hand moving to his collarbone. Eren swung his leg at Jean's, knocking the long-faced boy onto his back. 

Annie and Reiner's eyes showed signs of impressiveness. Faye's eyes widened in admiration for her brother, if one thing hadn't changed about her in the past two years, it was definitely her admiration for him. 

"Damnit," Jean said, groaning in pain. "What the hell was that move?!"

"Little something I picked up this afternoon," Eren said, disdain-filled gaze directed at Jean. "while you were busy with your thumb up your ass You honestly believe the Military Police are your ticket to the good life?"

Jean returned the gaze from the ground, Faye had a feeling he'd lost this spat. "You're not a soldier, you're a joke!"

Suddenly, the door creaked open and Shadis' face peeked through, eyes glowering intensely "Would someone care to explain the little ruckus I heard just now? I do hope everything’s all right."

Eren and Jean sat down, still glaring at one-another. Mikasa raised her hand. "Sasha passed some gas Commandant." Sasha let out a horrified gasp.

"Why am I not surprised? For the love of god, learn some self-control." Sasha let out another gasp as Shadis shut the door. Multiple cadets, Faye included, were attempting to hold in a laugh.

Jean simply continued to glare at Eren, while the brunette turned to talk to Faye

* * *

**The Next Day.**

**Cadet Corps Training Ground.**

**Day of Graduation**

Of the original recruits, 239 Cadets Graduated, some with honours.

"Do you have heart?!" The head instructor shouted, other Commandants, Shadis included, flanking him.

"Sir!" The Cadets shouted in unison.

"As of this moment, you have three options open to you. Choose wisely."

_"The Garrison Regiment: Whose job is to reinforce the Walls._

_The Survey Corps: Who ride out into Titan country to take back what was once ours._

_And the Military Police Regiment: Maintaining law and order under orders from His Royal Majesty."_

"Those cadets eligible for the MP have already been named, the rest of you, take a look." Ten Cadets stood in front of all the others. "These are the top of your class."

The top ten stood in ascending order:   
10th Place: Faye Jaeger  
9th Place: Sasha Braus  
8th Place: Connie Springer  
7th Place: Marco Bott  
6th Place: Jean Kirstein  
5th Place: Annie Leonhart  
4th Place: Eren Jaeger  
3rd Place: Bertolt Hoover  
2nd Place: Reiner Braun  
1st Place: Mikasa Ackerman

Armin and Christa had smiles on their faces, as they looked to their comrades, Armin in particular was looking at his three Shiganshina friends, pride evident on his face. Ymir had an odd look of disdain on her face directed at Faye.

Most of the top 10 had either satisfied smiles or indifferent frowns. Eren, on the other hand, had a look of downright fury as he looked forward.

_This is it. We’ve made it._

_Our time is now._

_Titans..._

_Be ready!_

* * *

  
**Cadet Corps Barracks**

**Trost District**

**Wall Rose South.**

Cheers rang out amongst the newly-graduated recruits, sat around at tables with mugs and food.

Connie and Sasha raised a toast to each other. "MP, here I come!"

"Three square meals a day for life!" Sasha cheered.

Jean sat at a table alone, taking an angry drink. "How in god's name did I rank under Eren? Shit."

Faye sat at a table not too far from the rest of the cadets, she'd arrived before any of the others, Eren, Mikasa and Armin were changing out of their uniforms. Faye heard footsteps approaching her and saw an annoyed Ymir approaching.

"Why the hell are you in 10th?" The freckled-girl asks, the look in her eyes holds uncharacteristic anger.

"I-I don't know, I just tried my hardest, why?" Faye said, pure confusion on her face. 

Ymir grabbed Faye's shoulder, clenching her fist. "That position was supposed to be for Christa, you don't deserve it." Faye began to sweat and a tear came to her eye, Ymir's fist was raised and Faye wasn't sure if she would punch her, when suddenly...

"OI!" Faye looked past Ymir's shoulder and Ymir turned her head to see an absolutely furious Eren storming towards them. Mikasa and Armin entered the room behind him. Armin looked confused while Mikasa trailed behind Eren, deciding to make sure things don't get too out of hand. "What the actual fuck do you think you're doing, Ymir?!"

Ymir snorted. "What does it look like?" Eren walked over to the two girls with his fists clenched. Ymir turned to Faye and whispered. "This isn't over." Ymir walked away a few seconds before Eren arrived.

Eren put his hand on Faye's shoulder gently. "You okay? That bitch didn't do anything to you, did she Faye?" He said, voice filled with concern.

Faye shook her head "No, I'm fine. She said she was mad at me for getting 10th instead of Christa, I'm not sure why."

Eren sighed. "Okay, well if she comes back, you let me or Mikasa know alright." Faye nodded, watching as her brother began to walk away, going off to converse with some other cadets, Mikasa and Armin following. Faye finished her food before standing and going to where Eren was.

"You’re really going to turn your backs on the MPs for the Scouts?" Thomas asked incredulously.

"Why in the world would you do that?" Samuel asked. "You’re in the top ten."

"The Scouts have always been my goal" Eren stated, staring forward. "I don’t want the easy life. Not with all the work I’ve put in." He clenched his right fist. "I trained to fight Titans."

Thomas looked at Eren in shock. "Are you insane?" He shouted, causing complete silence to overcome the cadets. "Uh..." Thomas realised that everyone's attention had turned to him. "How many have died?" He asked. "We’re talking a fifth of the population! If that doesn’t paint a picture for you, I don’t know what will." Even Connie and Sasha were listening now. "This is our life now. We can’t beat them."

Pessimistic silence overcame the cadets, many cadets had their heads down. "Yeah? So what?" The cadets looked up at Eren. "We buckle? Take it all lying down?"

Thomas tried to speak "Bu-"

"Things have changed. They're not the mystery they were five years ago. Sure, we've been losing for the past century, but the information we gained in battle will lead to further hope!" The cadets eyes were wide as they listened intently to Eren "Are we just going to throw away all the advances in fighting techniques that cost us tens of thousands of lives so we can be Titan fodder?! Not on your life!" Eren tightened his fist further, nails digging into his palm, "Humanity's future lies outside the walls, and I’m going to take back what was ours! I’ll drive them out. And as long as one of us can say that, we’re not done."

Everyone stared at Eren, eyes wide. Faye, as usual, had admiration in her eyes. Eren gritted his teeth and walked out of the room, passionate tears in the corner of his eyes. Faye shouted out to Eren "E-Eren wait!" She, Mikasa and Armin followed him out. 

Jean glared at Eren. _Yeah, good luck out there, hotshot. I’ll root for you from His Majesty’s barracks._

**Outside**

Eren sat on the steps outside, rubbing his eyes. "That was, uh. . ." Eren turned to see Armin, with Faye and Mikasa approaching behind him. "Quite a speech you gave back there."

Eren smiled as Armin sat down, Faye slipping between the two boys, Mikasa sitting on Eren's left. Yeah.” Eren smiled easily at Armin. "Most of it was from you y'know. All the stuff you used to say back in the day"

"Yeah well..." Armin trailed off. "I'm going to join the Survey Corps too!"

Eren looked at Armin, confused. "Are you serious, Armin?! You were the top in classroom studies! You should put that to use!"

"I refuse to be a burden, even if it costs me my life." Eren felt pride for the blonde boy.

"Me too." Mikasa stated.

"What? But you got top of the class, you should go for the MPs!" 

"If you join the Military Police, then I will, too. If you join the Garrisons, then I will, too. Because you'll die an early death unless I'm around."

Faye nodded. "I'm joining too!"

Eren sighed. "I'm not even gonna bother trying to convince you Faye." He knew that his sister would be stubborn. 

The foursome stared at the stars, enjoying their time together on their last day before joining a regiment.

* * *

_The Next Day._

_Trost District Main Street._

_Wall Rose South._

The Survey Corps were preparing to move out on the 56th Expedition, and crowds of onlookers were present, including Eren, Faye, Mikasa and Armin.

"It's here! The main unit of the Survey Corps!"

"Commander Erwin! Give those ugly bastards a good thrashing!" The Commander in question looked forward, eyes steeled.

"Look! It's Captain Levi! They say he's as strong as an entire brigade!" An excited civilian exclaimed

"Ugh, shut up already," Captain Levi grumbled.

"This is nothing like five years ago!" Eren smiled. "People actually feel hopeful about the Survey Corps!" Considering the last time he saw the Survey Corps arrive, which was in 845 on the day of the Fall. The reception couldn't be more different.

"Yeah," Hannah said, "everyone's cheered up since then. We are five years without incident after all"

"Not to mention the upgraded mounted cannons, too. I doubt the Colossal Titan will show up anymore," Franz said.

Eren frowned, knowing that the possibility of the Colossal Titan returning was still high, especially since he and his friends had witnessed the Titan's horrors first-hand. "You in denial ‘cause you’re a couple?"

Franz and Hannah both blushed, sticking their hands out, Franz covering his eyes. "Wh-What? Us, a married couple?"

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Eren! It's embarrassing!"

Armin and Faye laughed nervously, Eren gritting his teeth.

"Hey, hey, lookie here!" Eren, Faye, Mikasa and Armin turned at the familiar voice.

"Mr. Hannes!" Both Jaegers exclaimed.

"Word on the street’s they let you graduate yesterday." Hannes grinned as he walked up to them, with another soldier following. "Either you’ve grown up, or standards have plummeted"

"Oh, yeah, like you’re one to talk," Eren smirked. "The Corps of Engineers keeping their new chief in the drink?"

"Watch it." Hannes said as he poked Eren on the forehead playfully. Eren, Faye and Armin laughed. Mikasa and Hannes' partner smiling lightly

"I’m sorry if this is out of the blue," Hannes said, expression falling. "But I want you to know your mother’s death still haunts me.

Eren blinked in surprise. "Me too,” he said. “But it wasn’t your fault." Eren's brow furrowed slightly "We won't let another tragedy like that happen. We know what we're dealing with now."

Eren ran off towards the wall, where he was stationed with some fellow cadets for maintenance. Faye followed him, with Armin, Mikasa and Hannes watching on. _Fired-up and capable make a good combination, kid,_ He thought. He bit his lips, lowering his head slightly. _Don’t screw it up by dying._

* * *

**Top of Wall Rose, above the gate.**

**Trost District**

"What?" Eren shouted out in shock. The cadets were performing cannon maintenance. "What do you mean you’re joining the Scouts?!" Connie wiped down the base, ignoring him. "What happened to the MPs? That was your whole thing!"

"Don’t worry about it!" Connie snapped. "A guy’s allowed to change his mind okay?" Light pink dusting his face.

"I think your speech yesterday lit a fire under him," Mina told him.

"Huh?"

"Ain’t nobody talking to you!" Connie said hastily as he turned around. "His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it."

"Don't be so embarrassed. You're not the only one," Thomas said as he scratched his cheek, a bashful smile on his face.

"Thomas, you…"

"Can you keep a secret?" They turned around as Sasha appeared, hunched over as she hid something beneath her jacket.

"What are you up to?" Faye stated curiously.

"Cause I totally just helped myself to the Officer’s Pantry!" Sasha pulled out a piece of meat, something reserved exclusively for officers.

The cadets let out cries of shock.

"Sasha!" Faye cried. 

"They can throw your butt in the clink for that!" Eren shouted

"What the hell's wrong with her?!" Samuel exclaimed.

Connie responded in a deadpan tone. "What isn't wrong with her?"

It’ll be fine. I’m willing to share." Sasha's cheeks were red, her mouth hung open and drooling, and her eyes half lidded. "Oh, can you imagine the sandwiches?” Her eyes widened before she hunched over, letting out shuddering breaths.

"Put it back!" Eren shouted.

"Yeah! You know how rare meat’s been since the Titans took Wall Maria?" Faye frowned, considering that the Jaegers were Shiganshina natives, they did feel somewhat insulted.

"Um, a little bit," Sasha said. "Yeah."

"Just think about it this way," she said, lifting the lid and storing the meat.. "Pretty soon, we’ll take back all the room we need for livestock."

Samuel screwed his eyes shut. "I would really like a slice, please!"

Connie spoke up "If he gets one, so do I! Just so you know."

Mina piped up "Me too!"

"Ooh ooh, I'm in!" Faye chirped.

"But..." Eren trailed off.

"Come on!" Samuel said. "Don’t just stand there. If they see us slacking off, we’re in for it." Samuel returned to cleaning the cannons.

Eren turned towards Trost, staring out at the red-topped rooftops. _Has it really been five years?_ Eren's eyes drifted to the cannons. _Look at us. Ready to stand tall again._ His head titled forward, a determined look on his face. _We can do it._

The breeze blew past Eren, moving his hair and jacket slightly. _Mankind didn’t start this fight, but we’re going to finish it!_

Lightning struck the ground as the Colossal Titan suddenly appeared behind the wall, blocking out the view of the Wall Maria plains.

The dumbfounded cadets could do nothing but stare. Eren was the first to react, jumping back just as the Colossal Titan released a massive wave of steam as it kicked the gate, sending debris flying.

"AAH, IT'S HOT!" Eren cried out as he and the rest of the cadets fell off of the wall. Eren pressed down on the triggers of his ODM gear, shooting out the wires as he skidded down the wall to a halt. Faye, Connie, Sasha, Mina and Thomas did the same.

"SAMUEL!" Eren turned his head as Connie shouted. Samuel wasn't so lucky, having fallen unconscious when the Colossal struck.

Eren's eyes drifted to the gate, out of the corner of his eye he spotted Sasha begin to run down the wall, Faye and Mina shouting her name as she moved. Sasha shot a hook into Samuel's leg, he likely would never walk again but at least he wasn't dead. "That was too damn close" He breathed out.

The cadets stared down at the gates. "Oh god no..." Memories of five years ago were returning to the two Shiganshina natives. "Not again..."

"They're gonna get in..., They're gonna get in..., THEY'RE GONNA GET IN!" Eren heard Connie shouting.

 _No, this is over._ Eren remembered his words from the boat in Shiganshina. _I’m going to put a stop to this!_

"This ends now." Eren said lowly, before suddenly shouting. "THIS IS IT PEOPLE!" The other cadets turned to Eren as he drew his blades. "DO OR DIE!" Eren dropped off of the wall and began to propel himself up past his comrades. "Mounted Cannon Squad Four, take out the Colossal Titan!" Eren began to near the top of the wall. "THIS IS OUR CHANCE, DON'T LET IT SLIP AWAY!"

Eren burst through the Colossal's steam, spinning around to cut through it. He skidded across the ground as he landed. Looking up at the Colossal, it's cold eyes stared back at him. "Hey... It's been a while."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for that little bit of Ymir-bashing, but I figured since at this point she only cares about Christa, she'd react like this if someone else got 10th.
> 
> I initially planned for Faye to be in 8th, which would put Connie and Sasha down to 9th and 10th respectively, but I decided that I wanted her to be in 10th instead, as it would both allow me to make the Ymir scene, as well as meaning that her skill level won't be too high. I also decided to put Eren into 4th instead of 5th, let's just say that Annie slacked off more than usual.
> 
> NEXT TIME: The Struggle For Trost, the appearance of our favourite Titan Boi, as well as a special ability inspired by Primal Fervor by Etherborn. I'm not sure if that fic is still ongoing but check it out, it's pretty damn amazing. 
> 
> 1/11/20 Update: I'm back, I had to do another college assignment, starting tomorrow I'll get right back to this fic. Also, next chapter I plan to finally deviate from the Canon.


	6. First Battle: The Struggle for Trost

Eren ran along the wall as the Colossal Titan reared it's arm to swipe the wall. As soon as the giant red arm struck the wall, Eren gasped and jumped off, shooting out his ODM hooks into the skin of the arm. Eren flew up above the arm, giving him a view of the wall. 

_Son of a bitch!_ Eren gazed at the wall, the cannons having been knocked off when the Colossal scraped it's arm across the wall. _He took out the cannons. The gate was no accident then._ Eren's gaze turned to look at the Colossal's face. _He- He planned it._

 _He has_ **_intelligence._ **

Eren suddenly noticed the Colossal's arm bursting through the cloud of steam, but much slower than he'd anticipated, Eren veered out of the way as fast as he could, shooting another wire. Eren's conscious suddenly seemed as if it was screaming _GO DOWN GO DOWN_. As Eren swung around, he noticed that he too was moving way slower than usual. It was as if his entire perception of time had slowed down in an instant. As quickly as it had slowed down, the world suddenly sped up again to normal pace. _What the hell was that?_

Landing on top of the Colossal's arm, Eren ran across. _Never mind that, I gotta take him down now. Without him, the other Titans have nothing!_ The Colossal regarded him with cold eyes, shaking its arm as Eren jumped off again, swinging around to its nape, reeling in and preparing to swing his swords. "GOT YOU!" 

Suddenly, the Colossal unleashed a massive burst of steam, Eren clenched his teeth and squinted as he was blown back. "HOLY SHIT IT BURNS." Eren's ODM gear was shaking in resistance. Despite this, Eren's fingers pushed down on the trigger, shooting his hooks and flying towards the Colossal's nape with a loud yell. 

Right as Eren's swords slashed at the nape, he found that he had merely cut through the steam. _I... missed?_ Eren suddenly realised he was falling and shot out his hooks, embedding them into the wall. Eren looked down at the ground where the colossal once stood. _He just... vanished into thin air._ Where the Colossal had been standing, there was now just three craters and a gaping hole in the wall.

"Eren!" He looked up to see Thomas shouting to him, "What happened, did he get away or did you take him out?" 

"He's gone," Eren grit his teeth as he began to scale the wall. "Exactly like five years ago." Eren reached the top of the wall, where Thomas, Faye and Connie were standing, the others had already headed to the Garrison HQ. "I'm sorry, I got so close..."

Faye reached up and put a hand on Eren's shoulder. "Don't apologise, you were the only one who made a move anyway." Faye smiled.

Connie looked up from the Colossal's old spot. "Hey! Wallow on your own time." Connie looked back to the wall. "In case you haven't noticed there's a breach." Looking in the distance, Connie could see a few Titans on the horizon, no doubt heading towards Trost. "We have to act now! If they start pouring in, that's it!"

Faye glanced over at the Wall Maria lands, _Why are the Titans so far away? They came into Shiganshina almost immediately._

"Look alive!" Faye turned around and stood in a line with her fellow cadets. A Garrison member had arrived atop the wall. "Operation Colossal Titan Response is in effect, I expect you to take part! Report to HQ immediately, if you got close to the damn thing we need details!"

"Sir!" Connie shouted. "We pray the Advance Team will be victorious!"

Connie and Thomas immediately jumped off of the wall and headed to HQ. Eren simply stared over Trost. If the hole isn't plugged, this is gonna be another Shiganshina. Eren turned to look at his sister, who was looking at him worriedly. Eren walked over to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be alright Faye, we're gonna put a stop to them together." He said, his face determined.

* * *

All throughout Trost, mass panic was setting in, citizens fled down the main street, carrying their possessions "Pare down! Take only what you need to survive!" Garrison soldiers were attempting to keep order and complete the evacuation. At the gate into Wall Rose, a bottleneck was beginning to form from the evacuation. "File through as calmly as possible!" 

At the now broken gates, Garrison soldiers of the Advance Team on the Vanguard set up defensive operations. "You understand what we're facing." Spikes had laced the defensive pits. "If they get through, we'll have a repeat of five years ago." On the outside of the wall, soldiers manned the cannons and had their swords unsheathed, waiting as the titans approached. "Consider this the last line of defence! The Titans get held off here or nowhere!" 

The Titans came within range of the cannons. "OPEN FIRE!" The Captain shouted, the soldiers fired a volley of cannonballs at the Titans, piercing through the bodies of many of them, though only a few managed to hit the nape. "NOW, CHARGE!" The soldiers let out war-cries as they lept off of the wall into battle.

* * *

**Garrison HQ**

  
**Trost District.**

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Cadets!" A Garrison officer shouted out as trainees rushed around in panic, gathering their supplies and trying to calm their nerves. "Time to put your training to work! I have faith that each of you will be a credit to your regiments."

Mikasa ran through the HQ looking for her friends, on the way she saw Hannah and Franz off to the side. "Armin!" Mikasa turned at the familiar name and voice, seeing the aforementioned boy with Eren and Faye crouched and stood respectively at his side, Mikasa walked up and stood behind them. "What's wrong?"

Armin was shaking. "I-I'm fine, just give me a second for my nerves to settle." He let out a nervous breath. "This is bad isn't it? There's a hole in the wall eight metres wide and we don't even have the engineering know-how to plug it!" Armin recalled overhearing a plan by the Garrison to use a large boulder not too far from the river to plug it up, but they couldn't find out how to hoist it. "Unless we seal the hole, this city's as good as dead." 

Armin thought back to Shiganshina, though he hadn't seen anyone die to a Titan, he had seen them and knew from Eren's recount what they were capable of. "How long do you think before they take Wall Rose? Seriously, think about it! Any time the mood strikes them, they can wipe out the human race in an afternoon!" 

Suddenly, Eren grabbed Armin's forearm "Armin! Listen to me." Armin turned to him. "You're focused on the past. Look ahead. We're not going to be the victims anymore!"

Silence overcame the four. "Sorry... I'm fine now." Armin stood as he and Mikasa stood up to finish preparation. Eren and Faye stood in silence.

"We're in Squad 34 right Eren?" Eren nodded. 

"Yeah, we're stationed on the west side of the city."

"Mhm" Faye mumbled, "Eren?"

"Hm?"

"I'm a little scared. What if we get hurt, or worse?" Eren turned to Faye and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

"That won't happen Faye, we've trained for this. We're well prepared enough." Faye smiled, looking up at Eren. The siblings walked out of the room, apparently Captain Woermann was going to be doing a speech before dismissal. Eren thought back to when he fought the Colossal Titan. _What the hell happened back there. It was like time just... slowed, I felt like I knew exactly what to do to evade._

* * *

At the gates of the city, corpses littered the floor, some missing limbs, all bloody.

The Advanced Team had failed. The Vanguard had fallen.

**The Titans were in.**

* * *

Eren was a little jealous after finding out that Mikasa was being placed in the rearguard with the elite soldiers. It made sense though, she was the number 1 cadet by far. Eren was stood atop a rooftop, Armin and Faye stood next to him. 

"Look at it this way." Armin and Faye turned to Eren. "We prove ourselves here we could skyrocket up the ranks if we do well enough." Eren said with a confident toothy grin.

Faye had an amused smile and Armin had a grin to mirror Eren's "Sounds good, we're with you all the way."

"Now now, save some glory for the rest of us." Mina said behind them

Eren, Faye and Armin turned to face the others in their squad. "Good luck beating us to the punch a second time." Thomas said "No head starts for you now!"

Eren had a smirk on his face. "Is that a challenge?"

"Whoever kills the most Titans gets bragging rights"

"Heh, better not fudge your scores."

"Squad 34, move out!" Said squad turned to the Officer. "Bolster the vanguard!"

"Right!" Eren said as he turned back to his squad. "GIVE 'EM HELL!" 

His statement bolstered a loud scream of determination from his squad as they ran off of the roof, shooting their hooks and soaring through the streets. Eren ran across the roof before redeploying his hooks and shooting some gas to line up with the other cadets. Looking to his left, he saw some roofs engulfed in flames and Titans having made it very far in the city already.

"There are so many of them!" Mina cried.

"The entire vanguard's been wiped out!" Thomas said, shocked.

"I don't believe this, those guys always talked so big." Nack said.

 _I thought things would be hairy, but this is insane!_ Suddenly Eren's vision slowed again, turning greyscale this time. _It's happening again?_ Eren looked around curiously, head turning wildly (though from his perspective it looked way too slow to be that.) Eren's senses suddenly told him to look left. Suddenly his eyes spotted a red figure, he realised it was a Titan that was crawling.

And it was about to **_fucking jump._**

"ABNORMAL TO THE LEFT," Eren shouted loudly. "PULL UP!"

Eren's squad did so, but Thomas was delayed in his reaction, as he tried to move, the Titan bit his left leg, pulling him along with a pained cry. "SHIT!" Eren shouted out. 

He turned around to go for the Titan, thanks to his slowed perception of time, he was able to plan his moves out for longer. Eren quickly shot towards the Titan and swung his blades at the Titan's nape, tearing it out and killing it. If the situation weren't so dire, Eren would have cheered. After killing the Titan, his vision speeds up.

Eren sees Faye pull Thomas' leg out of the dead Titan's mouth, Eren rushes over to bring him up to a nearby roof. The others in the squad rushing to meet him.

"Shit, Eren is he okay?" Mylieus asks.

Eren hears ragged breathing from Thomas, which meant he was alive. Eren surveys the damage to Thomas's leg, it's not pretty, he's missing the lower half of his left calf, and his left foot by extension. There's a large gash on the left side of his leg as well, he'll have to have that stitched.

Luckily for Eren, his dad was a doctor. He'd been taught about things like wound cauterisation as well as how to stitch up a wound among other things. Unfortunately they don't have time for that right now, there are still way too many Titans.

**_(A/N: I do not have any medical experience, most of this and any medical information is probably wrong.)_ **

As the sky darkened with smoke and clouds, Faye suddenly spotted a group of cadets in the distance, by a bell tower. Unfortunately, there were a few Titans in the way. "There's some cadets over there, should we regroup?"

Pulling out a bandage, Eren quickly wrapped Thomas' leg up. "We have to, it's the only way we can treat his wounds. Nack, would you mind carrying Thomas?" Eren said, eliciting a nod from Nack. "Right, you stay a little further behind us, we'll handle any Titans in the way." With that, Eren got a running start before jumping off of the roof and shooting off towards the bell tower area. The other cadets, minus Nack almost immediately followed. Eren spotted another slow-moving Titan, dodging a hand thanks to his slowed vision. _So it only kicks in when I'm in danger? That'll make things easier, and if it's highlighted red then it's a threat. Good to know._ Using his newfound ability to his advantage, he swung right around the neck and carved out the nape.

Another Titan was dead ahead, and Eren's slowed perception was still going on, he noticed that Faye had taken out the achilles tendon, causing the Titan to stumble right into Eren's path, allowing him swipe the nape, killing it. _Three down_. Looking ahead, Eren saw that there were no more Titans directly ahead, meaning they could get through easily. Eren observed that, present among the cadets were Jean, Connie, Sasha, Christa, Ymir, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Marco and a multitude of others. 

Said group was despondent, they'd been given orders to go over the wall but didn't have enough gas to make it because the supply depot was overrun with Titans.

Sasha was the first to notice the approaching group. "It's Eren's squad!" Eren landed on the rooftop, Armin, Mina, Mylieus and Nack landing last. 

"How're things going for you guys?" Connie said, walking over.

Eren grimaced. "Not great, we killed a few Titans but we're running low on gas and a Titan bit Thomas' leg." Connie looked at said leg and reeled back. "Hey Nack, would you put him over there?" He pointed to the wall of the tower, Nack proceeded to place him against the tower, sat up but unconscious.

Eren reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small bag of emergency supplies, including a few scalpels, a lighter bandages, a needle, some thread and a surgical mask and some gloves. Eren put on the mask and gloves and pulled out a lighter to cauterise the wound.

Marco looked at Eren. "Shouldn't we get him to a hospital" 

Eren shook his head. "No, if we don't do it now, it might get infected and he could die." Eren turned on the lighter and pulled out a piece of cloth for Thomas to bite. "Armin, Sasha, would you mind holding this in his mouth so he doesn't bite his tongue." Armin and Sasha walked over and held it in place, as Eren began to cauterise the wound. Luckily, Thomas was unconscious and merely winced and let out hitched breaths. 

Once the wound was closed, Eren turned his attention to the gash on Thomas' leg, pulling a needle and thread out and carefully sewing up the wound, he was a little nervous as he wasn't in a proper medical environment unlike with his father. When he finished, Eren pulled out a fresh bandage and rewrapped the wound again. "That should be good enough to get him to a med bay." 

Nack and Mylieus raised their hands. "We'll take him over." Eren nodded, giving them a few extra bandages just in case, they proceeded to head off. He then turned to the rest of the group. "So what are you guys still doing here? The order to retreat came in a while ago right?"

Jean snorted. "Not like we can go anywhere, we're low on gas and the bastards in the supply depot left us to die." He sighed, putting his hands on his chin. "God what a dull life this turned out to be." He murmured under his breath.

Faye looked around the group, seeing the sheer despair she tried to do something to raise their spirits. "Come on guys, we can't just die here, we gotta do something, if we don't, we're just basically handing ourselves over to them." 

Jean laughs humourlessly. "We don't have the gas to do it, if you can somehow rouse those lot to the fight, be my guest. But it'll just be a massacre either way."

Eren pinched the bridge of his nose, it seemed his expertise in speeches would be needed again. "Defeatist bastard." Eren mumbled, gaining the other's attention. "Alright, listen up! Like Faye said, if we just sit here, we're basically giving them a goddamn feast. We trained for this shit, you guys want the last three years of your lives to be a fucking waste?! We have enough soldiers AND equipment to do something!" 

While Eren was talking, Mikasa had arrived without people realising. Pointing to the HQ, Eren continued. "Yeah the situation looks dire, but we still have a chance to do something, are you all really gonna give up at the first sign of danger?!"

Eren clenched his fist. "Are you all gonna lie down and accept your fates, or are you gonna stand up and fight?!" 

Faye nodded. "Because if you don't fight, you die."

Eren grinned. "But if you fight-"

"Then you live." Eren and Faye turned to see Mikasa looking at the group, a determined look on their faces. The three, plus Armin, shared a knowing look. Eren turned back to the group.

"So what'll it be 104th? Will you lay down and die, or will you fight?!" Eren shouts out, before he turns to run in the direction of the HQ, jumping off of the roof and shooting off. Faye, Mikasa and Armin followed shortly. 

"Suicidal bastard..." Jean says, gritting his teeth before turning to his comrades. "Hey, we weren't trained to leave our comrades to fight alone, at this rate you'll really be remembered as cowards!" He shouts before following Eren's lead, followed by Marco, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie and the remainder of the other cadets. 

Eren and Mikasa provided the brunt of the force towards the Titans, tag-teaming so one would attract it's attention, allowing the other to go for the nape. Eren also learned that his ability only kicked in when he was in real danger, something he deduced by the fact that it hadn't activated once now that he and Mikasa were working together. The two had known one another for six years now, there was no need for words. Together, they'd taken out a total of four titans, Eren's total count was at seven now, though he'd only sliced the napes of two of the four, meaning it was actually five kills and two assists.

While they were killing the Titans, Faye and Armin weren't too far behind them when the younger Jaeger suddenly realised something. "Guys! There's probably gonna be a lot of Titans in the depot!"

Armin paled. "We'll need some people outside to hold off the Titans." After a moment Armin spoke again. "We'll have to find out how many are inside first."

Eren nodded. "Right," He turned to the HQ, "You guys bust through the window, Mikasa and I will finish off the fuckers outside, got it?!" The others nodded.

Multiple windows shattered as several cadets burst through the window while Eren and Mikasa landed on top of the roof.

"Hey Mikasa, how many are still out there?" Eren asked.

Mikasa takes a moment to count. "I saw six that are too close to the HQ."

"Right, then those are the ones we'll need to take out."

"Okay, just be careful."

Eren frowns. "I told you, I'll be fine." Locking eyes with Mikasa, Eren grips his sword grips tighter. "Let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, credits to Etherborn for the ability idea. Though I'll be using a different name for the ability than what they used. 
> 
> I decided to break up this chapter into two instead, so Titan Boi comes next time instead.
> 
> Just realised how much swearing is in this fic... and i am not gonna change that.
> 
> 8/12/20: Soo... my pc hit a major snag, my keyboard won't work so i can't update for a while, it pisses me off because i wasn't far off of finishng the chapter, so this story is on a temporary hiatus until my pc is working again, luckily i have the chapter saved on a flash drive so it won't be lost.
> 
> In the meantime, i'm gonna work on the outline for the story. Mild spoiler, but the Curse of Ymir doesn't exist in this timeline.


	7. The Rogue Heartbeat - The Struggle for Trost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Mikasa continue to clear out the Titans, but, when victory seems near, disaster strikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FOUND A LOOPHOLE GAMERS, I CAN WRITE AGAIN

Eren sliced out another Titan's nape, the corpse flopping down in a manner reminding him of the drunk soldiers back in Shiganshina. Looking over to his right, he saw Mikasa slicing a Titan's arm before cutting the nape again. 

Looking to his left, Eren noticed a swarm of Titans, practically begging to be killed. Turning to Mikasa, he spoke. "Hey Mikasa, let's get those ones before they get to the HQ!"

Mikasa nodded. "Right, just be careful. There's a lot of them." Eren nodded back, before both swung towards the Titan swarm. 

There were about four Titans in total, in theory, that sounds really easy. But in practice...

Eren and Mikasa had taken out two of the Titans quite easily, Eren turned himself around, preparing to chase down the remaining Titans when suddenly the world slowed again, vision turning greyscale as he let out a burst of gas. 

Before the gas could propel him, a Titan they hadn't actually seen before came from below and chomped down on Eren's left leg, the gas propelling him forward as he was bitten. The boy crashed into the roof, hanging off the edge. 

Mikasa landed on a roof, staring with wide eyes, letting out shaky breaths as she stared at Eren's bleeding form. _N-no... Eren..._ Mikasa fell to her knees, dropping her blades in shock and horror as she fell, she landed onto the road below. _Why... can't I move...?_ She heard the footsteps of a Titan walking away, looking to her left, she saw a bearded Titan walking away from them, back towards the HQ. Looking forward again, a lone left forearm laid on the ground.

Eren's arm.

"E-Eren..." She let out a quiet sob, staring at the dismembered appendage

Another Titan to her left began to reach an arm towards her, tear-filled yet glazed eyes turned to it as it grabbed her in the arm. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the sound of loud footsteps, likely just another Titan. _Is this it for me? I couldn't do anything to save him..._ Mikasa had all but given up until suddenly...

The large fist of a Titan suddenly smashed into the face of the Titan that had Mikasa in it's grasp. Mikasa landed on the ground with a thud as the other Titan crashed to the ground. "What the...?" She said, looking up before gasping.

The Titan was a 15m class, but unlike most Titans which were misshapen and deformed, this Titan was muscular and even, with defined arms and legs. It had shaggy brown hair and piercing green eyes, with a lipless, serrated mouth. The Titan let out a hiss before swinging it's head back into a loud roar. Mikasa covered her ears as it ran towards the fallen Titan, with a series of loud grunts and roars, the Titan tore apart it's own kind with only its foot. _That Titan..._ It continued to stomp _is killing..._ It's roars of rage rang out _It's killing the other one._

The Titan stared up into the air before letting out another ear-piercing roar. "It's like the manifestation of humanity's rage." It was like a berserker, a rogue of it- no, _his_ species. 

A **Rogue Titan.**

Suddenly the Rogue turned it's gaze to her. She slowly started to move back, before staring into his eyes and slowing. She felt a sense of familiarity in those eyes, a sense of humanity and familiar righteous rage,

It reminded her of Eren. The boy who had saved her, wrapped her scarf around her and given her a home when hers was torn away.

The boy she loved...

The Rogue gently reached a hand around her and picked her up, though a sense of panic came to her, it calmed again when she saw his eyes. 

The Rogue suddenly turned to run towards the HQ, cradling Mikasa in his hand. When other Titans came close enough to attack them, the Rogue would swing it's fist straight through their heads, shredding the nape.

Suddenly, the HQ was in sight, and there were tons of Titans surrounding it again.

* * *

**Inside The HQ.**

Jean had his head in his hands. "Well, we managed to clear the supply room but the Titans are outside now, great..." He ran his hand along his face. "Back to square one I guess." 

Faye and Armin looked out of the window, concerned expressions on their faces while the other cadets cowered behind tables as makeshift hiding spots. The top ranking cadets in the 104th knew that hiding was useless. "I haven't seen Eren and Mikasa in a while, you think they're okay?"

Armin turned to the youngest member of his friends. "Don't worry, those two are capable of pulling this off, I know it."

Reiner, who was standing off to the side, leaning against the wall suddenly shouted. "GET DOWN!" Some cadets heeded his words and fell to the ground, others stared at him confused. 

Suddenly, part of the wall was blown out as a Titan's face appeared by the hole, another one soon joining it. The Cadets stared in shock and horror, before many attempted to flee, but due to the large amount of people fleeing, they blocked the door.

The top of the 104th simply stared at the Titans, Reiner, Bertolt and Annie had grabbed their blades just in case. Faye and Armin reaching for theirs. Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Ymir and Christa simply stared. _This is it... This is reality. Of course it is, how deluded was I? No. No, on some level, I knew all along. I mean, when you stop and think for a second, it's obvious. There's no winning, not against them._ Jean concluded.

Suddenly, a fist appeared smashing against the Titan's face, as the fist hit the face, the Cadets simply stared in confusion. "What?!" Jean shouted out.

The Titan crashed to the ground, the Rogue rising up before letting out a loud roar. Jean stared in shock. "What the... my god..." Suddenly, Mikasa burst through the window with her ODM gear, landing smoothly. "M-Mikasa, you're alive!"

She nodded, before pointing at the Rogue "Thanks to him." Said Titan began to advance forward towards the others. 

"Him? You mean that Titan helped you?" Connie says incredulously. Sasha, next to him, stares in shock at the Titan. 

Mikasa nods again. "He only seems to target other Titans, but he has intelligence, he even carried me here." 

"He carried you?" Armin and Reiner say at the same time, the latter's voice containing an air of wariness.

"Listen to yourself, a Titan's not gonna help us, you'd have to be out of your mind if you-"

"It is working." Mikasa says sternly. "For whatever reason he's rampaging against them. Stand back and let him do it. Trust me, you'll see." The Rogue Titan reared his arm back and threw a punch at another Titan, decapitating it. The Rogue let out another high-pitched roar, a battle cry to attract other Titans. "Either way, what choice do we have? Right now that Titan is our only chance of survival."

A Titan lunged at the Rogue, who's third-eyelids blinked before turning and grabbing the arm of the Titan and flipping him onto the ground, letting out another roar as his hand steamed. 

Connie let out a shuddering laugh. "Look at him go, that thing makes the others look like total weaklings."

Reiner observed with cold eyes, Bertolt and Annie observing from close range. Faye, like many of the cadets was staring in awe, but for different reasons. She'd gotten a clear glance at the Titan's eyes, a piercing shade of green that she could recognise anywhere, a colour she only knew two people to have: both herself and Eren. 

Wait where is Eren? Faye turned over to Mikasa, the last person to have seen him. "Mikasa, where's Eren?" She said, concern creeping into her voice. Mikasa didn't respond, tears leaking into her eyes, pulling the scarf over her mouth. "Mikasa...?" Faye said, tears creeping into her eyes as she realised what happened. 

Armin had a distant look on his face, knowing that, considering Eren and Mikasa being outside was part of his plan, that he just sent his best friend off to his death.

The other cadets had a varying look of shock, Jean, Marco and Connie all had despondent looks, completely shocked. 

Sasha felt sick, knowing that someone as encouraging as Eren was dead. "...What?"

Reiner had a wide-eyed face. "Wait, he's... dead?" He said quietly.

Christa's eyes were wide too, a single tear in her left eye.

Bertolt, Annie and Ymir's faces didn't change, aside from their eyes widening.

Faye began to tremble, tears pouring from her eyes as her knees buckled, falling onto the ground. "N-no... This can't be happening... Eren..." She whispered out, sobbing.

Outside the base, the Rogue Titan continued to wreak havoc on the nearby Titans, letting out high-pitched growls each time he killed one. The force of his attacks would sometimes destroy hiss own hand, though it regenerated quickly.

* * *

Back in the HQ, the Cadets, fully stocked up and with the Titans a lesser threat, prepared to go up Wall Rose. Though the best of the 104th had taken a moment to mourn their fallen friend.

Armin, preparing to take off to the wall noticed Mikasa and Faye on the roof of the HQ. "Mikasa, Faye?" Armin climbed up to the top of the wall. "What are you doing?" He pointed to the wall before turning back to them. "We have to leave!"

"Look down there." Mikasa pointed down and Armin gasped. The mindless Titans had pinned the Rogue Titan down, chewing at his skin. The Rogue let out a pained hiss.

"Cannibalism?" Armin's arms went slack, blades clanking on the roof. "Can't it regenerate?"

"I thought that if we could find out what's up with that Titan, it could help us." Mikasa said.

"I think so too." Reiner said from behind. "If it get's eaten we gain nothing out of it, might as well take out the ones attached to it." Bertolt and Annie followed behind Reiner.

Jean, who had followed the commotion, spoke incredulously. "Have you lost your damn mind? We finally have a chance to get out of here."

Annie's eyes turned to Jean. "But if we helped that Titan, it could prove to be an extremely powerful ally." 

"Are you serious? It's not like a new friend!"

Faye heard footsteps and looked to his left, spotting another Titan. "Wait... that's the one that bit Thomas right? But didn't Eren kill it?" If Faye had looked closer, she'd realise that it was just a similar Titan. But to the Rogue... that was the same one.

The Rogue Titan suddenly surged forward, shaking the smaller Titans from his legs, his left arm had been ripped out of the socket as soon as he surged. The Rogue's right arm came off as he shook another Titan off of him, The Rogue's jaws clamped down on the neck of the Abnormal, raising his head to lift the Titan in the air.

The cadets stared in shock as the Rogue's now-exposed ribs cracked, it's eye turned to the Titan behind him, swinging his neck to hit the Titan, killing it instantly. Turning around, the Rogue smacked away another Titan with the Abnormal. Releasing the latter from his jaws, the Rogue let out another ear-piercing roar.

Jean had a stunned face. "Holy..." Jean breathed. "What was that you were saying."

As the Rogue stopped roaring, his knees buckled as he fell to the ground, seemingly dead.

"Cause I think it's a moot point now." Jean turned around to leave. "Enough of this, let's leave while we can. We're lucky the bastard didn't come for us next." Jean noticed nobody was leaving. "Look, a Titan's a Titan... What are you looking at?" Jean asked, confused on what they were looking at. 

As the Rogue's body steamed and dissolved, a figure was peeling out of the nape, as the Titan's skin finally detached, it revealed Eren inside.

Mikasa jumped off of the roof as soon as she spotted Eren, Faye following a second later. Both girls ran with absolute desperation on their faces. Mikasa gripped Eren tightly, placing her head on his chest.

He had a heartbeat. **He was alive.**

Faye arrived and almost barrelled into Eren, hugging him around the torso. Mikasa's eyes watered, with Faye beginning to sob. Mikasa then started to cry her eyes out, letting out a loud wail as she cried.

Soon, Eren was on the roof, Mikasa and Faye still holding Eren. Armin stared in shock. _H-he's alive? But how? Mikasa saw him die._ Armin felt a few tears fall down his face, grabbing Eren's hand. "How is this possible?" He whispered.

Jean turned around, facing the steaming Titan bodies. "Okay, so uhm... Eren did all this?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, i was hoping to have this finished by the 11th.
> 
> Also, we got to 20,000 words bois!
> 
> Just to clarify, I plan to cover all four seasons, though three and ESPECIALLY four will be very different.
> 
> QUESTION: If Faye were to have an eventual love interest, who would you want it to be? Leave an answer in the comments.  
> (It cannot be anyone of the following: Eren obviously, any character who is considered a superior such as Levi, Erwin etc.)


	8. The Whereabouts of His Left Arm: The Struggle for Trost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren wakes up and catches on to what happened. Dot Pixis has a plan to use Eren's Titan form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh... Hey again. It's been a month and 22 days since the last chapter. Sorry about that. Through a combination of burnout, christmas, and completely redoing the chapter over again.. I present to you the newest chapter.
> 
> Also I switched the spelling back to Jaeger.

**Inner Wall Maria**

  
**56th Expedition Beyond the Walls**

  
**Struggle for Trost ongoing.**

The Scout Regiment's primary function is to conduct surveys outside the walls and establish bases of expansion, acting as a spearhead for human knowledge. Thanks to the ingenuity of its exemplary members, the Regiment's survival rates have improved.

That said, excursions into long relinquished territory still result in an average death toll of 30%. A stark illustration of the disparity between our own strength and that of the Titans.

A Scout lay in a Titan's mouth, with only his torso and head not in the thing's mouth. Blood was trickling from the man's mouth as he spoke. "One day..." He stuttered out in defiant agony. "one day... you'll all just be a bad memory! Mankind will destroy all of you! Mark my words, the last ones standing will be us!"

The bleeding Scout stabbed the Titan in the cheek. The Titan's eyes slowly drifted to the man before biting down further, causing blood to spurt out violently as the Scout cried out in sheer agony. 

"G-gorge while you can you bastard." He groaned out violently. "Just wait until Captain Levi gets here."

Suddenly a wire shot behind the Titan as Levi whizzed past, slicing the nape as the Titan began to fall. Levi landed on the roof smoothly, standing up to gauge his surroundings. "One on the right, two on the left..."

"Captain!" Levi turned to see his squad arrive behind him. Petra spoke while Eld and Gunther landed behind her. "The reinforcements are here." 

Captain Levi, Petra Ral, Eld Jin, Gunther Schultz and Oruo Bozado were all of the members of the Special Operations Squad, commonly referred to as Squad Levi. They were the best of the best of the Survey Corps, effectively the strongest squad in history with over 200 confirmed eliminations. The squad was handpicked by Levi himself, being referred to as "Humanity's Strongest Soldier."

"Good. Tend to our comrade below, Petra" Levi ordered his subordinates. "You two, take out the Titan to your right. The pair on the left belong to me." He stated before shooting off towards the Titans in question.

"Captain-!" Petra shouted after him.

As Levi walked over to the Titans, he sighed briefly overhearing Section Commander Hange Zoe practically playing with a Titan (Not that the Titan thought that was happening.). "I know you probably can't help being hideous" He said before suddenly jumping into the air shooting his hooks into the Titan's neck and preparing to strike, reverse-gripping his right blade. Levi came down on the Titan's nape while simultaneously spinning, killing it.

Levi suddenly jumped off of the nape before literally throwing his blades into the Titan's eyes. The Titan screeched in pain as Levi landed on it's head "Easy big stuff," He said, drawing his swords. "Otherwise slicing your flesh could be very messy." He said before bringing his blades down on the nape of the neck. 

Levi looked at his blades and grimaced at the blood. "Shit," He grumbled. "Disgusting." He said, pulling out a cloth and wiping it.

Levi landed back on the ground before walking over to Petra, who was kneeling by the Scout that was being eaten and trying to stop the bleeding. "Captain, I can't stop the bleeding..." She said, looking up with a few tears in her eyes.

"C-captain... Levi?" The Scout rasped out.

"I'm here." Levi said, kneeling.

"Did I make a difference?" The soldier rasped. "Was I helpful? Please sir, I don't want to die without helping mankind." 

Levi, despite being a notorious clean freak, grabbed the Scout's bloodied hand "You did a great job today soldier." said Levi "and you will keep doing it. Your strength won't die with you. The torch will be carried on by me. This I swear on my very life. The Titans will be eradicated!" 

"Captain, he's gone..." Petra looked to her superior.

Levi looked at her. "Did he hear what I said?"

"Yes, sir." Petra replied. "I think he heard all of it. Look at him. That's a face at peace."

"We can only hope."

"Levi." The two turned to see Commander Erwin Smith approaching on horseback. 

"We're pulling out."

What do you mean?" Levi demanded. "You damn well know that we can push further! My men didn't die to pave our retreat!"

"There's a swarm of Titans moving north, bearing on the city." Erwin explained. "It's just like five years ago, something's happening to the city. The wall may have already been reduced to rubble."

_Damn you..._

_Damn you..._

Eren opened his eyes slowly, red clouding his vision. Panting heavily, his vision cleared slightly. Looking around him, he saw a red liquid with bodies in Garrison uniform. Eren screamed as he realised he was inside a Titan's stomach.

 _Thi- this isn't real! We were ready. We were different from five years ago! We trained hard! We hit the books and learned!_ Eren remembered getting swallowed and stared at the stump that was once his left arm. _We knew how to beat them and how to survive._

"It's so hot..." Eren turned to his right after hearing a voice. He saw a woman, half sunken and on the cusp of death. "Mom... It's hot"

Mom. Eren suddenly recalled a memory of a younger him and his mother. _How has it come to this? Why has everything been taken from us?_ Carla's death flashed before him. _Our lives_. As did Armin showing him the book about the outside world. Our dreams. 

"Why?" Eren asked to nobody as he began to sink into the stomach acid. "Damn you. Damn you all!" Eren raised his left arm, or what remained of it. "I refuse to die like this!"

"I'll drive them all out! Kill them with my bare hands! Do you hear me? With my bare hands!"

  
Eren's eyes shot open, finding himself lying on the floor. He sat up and took in his surroundings, the first thing he spotted was Wall Rose, which means he wasn't in Trost anymore, looking around he saw some wounded Cadets and Garrison soldiers. 

_Looks like I'm in some kind of makeshift med bay. But what the hell happened?_ Thinking back to when he was still conscious, Eren remembered he'd just lost his leg. _Oh yeah, a Titan bit my leg off._ Looking down however, Eren saw his leg was still there. 

_What the fuck? How is my leg back?_ Standing up, he found that his legs worked fine, looking around for an exit, he found a door not too far away and went to open it. 

When he got outside, he saw the dejected and downtrodden looks on many soldier's faces. Looking to his left, he spotted some of the 104th and walked over to them. 

Armin's brain was wracking through all possibilities. _I don't get it, how did he...? Mikasa SAW him die, and yet he's perfectly fine. But why did he come out of the Titan? Does that mean he can control Titans...?_

 _Wait... did Eren control the Titan or was he the Titan itself? The Titan looked a lot like him, what with the hair and eyes. But how is that possible?_ Looking over to his left, he spotted Eren walking over. 

"Eren! You're okay?" Armin ran over to where Eren was, getting the attention of the other members of the 104th, each of them making their way over. Faye had straight up ran over, with Mikasa's eyes showing a glimmer of happiness, a stark contrast to the usually emotionless gaze. Jean, Reiner, Bertolt and Annie were looking slightly wary of Eren, having seen him emerge from the Titan's carcass.

Almost immediately, Eren had found himself being hugged by his sister. Gently patting her on the head, Eren looked to his fellow cadets. "Everyone alright?"

Marco rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Not exactly, we managed to get over the wall, but with the way things are seeming it's not good."  
  
Jean snorted cynically. "Not good is an understatement, Trost is pretty much a lost cause at this point." 

"Cadets! Report to the Garrison captains for evaluations." A Garrison soldier shouted. The cadets, aside from Eren, Faye, Mikasa and Armin following.

"Eren," Armin got Eren's attention, "Do you... remember what happened before you woke up?" 

Eren shook his head. "Not much, I remember that a Titan was about to bite me before I blacked out. Not sure what happened afterwards."

Armin turned towards the other cadets, facing Eren again and taking a deep breath. "Eren... you-"

Faye cut him off, looking up at her brother. "Mikasa said you'd died, an' we thought so too until we saw a Titan that was fighting other Titans and then it fell over and then you came out of the nape an'-" Faye rambled on, hints of tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Wait hold on, what was that last part?" Eren interrupted her. "I... came out of the Titan?"

Armin recounted everything that had happened after Eren and Mikasa went off to fend off the Titans, Mikasa filling in a few gaps.

"So... after the Titan knocked me away, I came back as a Titan?"

Armin nodded. "Yes, but you came out of the nape, it doesn't look like you yourself were the Titan."

Eren put a hand up to his forehead, rubbing his palm against it. "So what the hell are we doing about Trost."

Armin put his hand to his chin, tapping it in thought. "Well the Garrison is trying to figure out a way to plug the hole using the boulder, but we don't know how that would work... Wait a second!" Armin's eyes widened. "What if we used your Titan form to carry the boulder and plug up the wall!"

Eren's eyes widened as he realised what Armin was saying. "I could... plug the wall?" 

Faye nodded excitedly "That'd work, but how would we do it? We can't just expect to go up to a Captain and say 'Eren can transform into a Titan.' They'd kill him on the spot."

Armin pondered. "Not necessarily, while most Captains would do that, Commander Pixis wouldn't. He'd likely listen to us." 

Commander Dot Pixis. Officially, he's the Chief Official of the Southern Territories, but in practice he's the de facto Commander of the Garrison Regiment. The man is well known and respected as a leader. 

He's also eccentric and a drunkard.

Soon, Eren, Armin, Faye and Mikasa found themselves atop Wall Rose with Pixis. 

"So you say that Cadet Jaeger has the capability to transform into a Titan?" Armin nodded. "Interesting, do you have any proof of this."

Armin pointed down the wall to where the Cadets were. "Yes, a few of the Cadets also saw Eren emerge from the Titan's carcass, so you can ask the-" Armin was cut off as Eren cut his hand using one of his blades. The wound quickly began to heal itself, steam emerging from the cut. 

"Steam... just like a Titan..." Pixis said in uncharacteristic shock. "I see... there is potential in this plan Cadet Arlert. Anka!" The aging Commander called out to one of his escorts. Anka ran over to where the group was. "Inform the Captains and the Elite Squad." 

"Sir!" Anka said, saluting before heading down the wall.

"Cadet Jaeger," Eren's head turned to Pixis. "Can you do it, can you lift the boulder?"

Eren looked down at his hands. "I-I don't know sir..."

Pixis hummed. "Then I asked the wrong question. WILL you do it, Cadet?"

Eren looked up at the Commander, eyes glancing towards his sister's encouraging face. "I'll do it. I don't know if I can, but I will." 

Pixis smirked. "Well said, you have the heart of a lion." Pixis patted Eren on the shoulder as he walked to speak with the senior Garrison members that had arrived on the wall "Senior officers, gather around! We have a strategy to establish!"

"What? It's a wild idea! I didn't think it would actually be established!" Armin exclaimed.

"I was thinking the same thing," Eren said. "There's no point in wondering with his judgement. Pixis probably sees something that we can't."

"Something we can't see?" Faye asked curiously.

"Either way, before we execute this strategy, we have a fundamental issue: The Commander clearly understands the situation." Eren paused "Our enemies are not just the Titans." He spoke softly. 

Eren's mind flashed back to the Colossal's attack. _They're definitely intelligent, but what are their intentions._

Pixis walked over to the wall, overlooking the panicking Cadets and soldiers below. Clearing his throat, he shouted. "ATTENTION!" His voice boomed down the wall, silencing all conversation. "I shall now explain the Trost Recovery Operation! Our primary objective is to reseal the hole!" Shock and confusion radiated from everyone below, murmurs abound.

"Is he serious?" Marco asked.

"As for how the task will be done, allow me to introduce someone," Pixis continued as the camera panned over to Eren, who was standing beside him. "This is Cadet Eren Jaeger!" Eren stepped forward and saluted. Those in the 104th who weren't aware that Eren was alive looked up in shock. "This young man is the successful project of cutting-edge research! Cadet Jaeger possesses the ability to manifest into a Titan!"

"Hey, I didn't understand what the Commander said," Connie asked, leaning over to Ymir. "But it's not because I'm stupid right?"

"Shut up, stupid..." Ymir answered.

"Having assumed Titan form, Cadet Jaeger will hoist that immense boulder on his back and reseal the hole with it!" Pixis spoke. "Your duties are to protect him from other Titans!"

Armin, Faye and Mikasa meanwhile were with Anka and Gustav planning the operation. "Sorry, it's not my place to interject." Armin spoke.

Anka assured him. "It's alright, go on with what you were saying."

"Right." said Armin. "Titans are generally drawn to large groups. If enough of us collected in the corner away from that hole, we could lure the Titans away from Eren's path. The Titans will be grouped together, so we can use our cannons and avoid casualties. Of course, we can't leave Eren defenceless. We'll need a modest band of Elites to act as his bodyguards. Also, there may be Titans that enter through the hole. He will depend on the competencies of his bodyguards."

Back with the cadets on the floor, unease and a little hope spread through the crowd.

"The kid can lift a rock that big?"

"Has humanity captured and now controls a Titan?"

"It's a lie!" Daz cried. "You can't expect us to die for some godforsaken reason! What do you think we are? We are not tools for you to play with!"

"Human weapons?"

"It's all a deception"

"We're being duped!" The cadets murmured endlessly, Sasha shook in silence.

"They're telling us to die today? I'm out of here!" A Garrison soldier said.

"Me, too!"

"And me!"

"I'm leaving!" Daz shouted, turning to run.

"Wait, that's treason!" a superior pulled Daz back.

"To hell with you! My family gets all the time I have left!"

"This is getting out of hand." Ian said to Rico.

"I know. If we don't do something, we're going to lose control." Rico replied.

"Traitors! I'll kill you where you stand!" Woermann yelled, drawing his blade. "Desertion is answered by death!"

"Anyone wishing to leave will be. by my orders, not charged with treason!" Pixis suddenly shouted, causing silence to wash over the crowd. Those who have seen a Titan first-hand will not be forced to relive that again. Anyone that knows the horrors of a Titan, leave us! Additionally, whoever knows the horror of Titan, but wants their own family to experience the same horror may leave as well!" 

Upon hearing that, many soldiers froze, their families coming to mind before turning to face the commander again.

"I want to tell you a story that happened four years ago," Pixis said. "Namely, the operation to retake Wall Maria. I'm sure all of you know this already. Officially we named it reconnaissance, but it was little more than an exercise in population control." Soldiers stared in shock at the revelation, Armin thought back to his Grandfather's death. "We let ourselves believe a lie, because the deaths of our fellow human beings allowed us to survive. The guilt is ours. We have a debt to pay back to humanity. The citizens of Wall Maria survived due to many casualties, but what about this time? If Wall Rose succumbs, the repercussions will be immeasurable! The resources of Wall Sina cannot support half of those who live there right now! Humanity will be wiped out, not by the Titans, but through killing each other!" Pixis saluted towards the soldiers. "We can't kill each other at this Wall. If we must die, let us die here in battle!"

"We can't kill each other at this Wall. If we must die, let us die here in battle!" The soldiers below stared at the aging commander in shock.

 _I don't know if I'll be able to lift that rock._ Eren thought. _But I know what I must do. I might be wrong but I must be successful! I have to be the hope for everyone!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I don't know how to spell Oruo's name.
> 
> Honestly, I love the Trost Arc, but fucking hell if it isn't a BITCH to adapt.
> 
> Gonna re-ask the question from last time:
> 
> Comments are appreciated.
> 
> |||QUESTION: If Faye were to have an eventual love interest, who would you want it to be? Leave an answer in the comments.  
> (It cannot be anyone of the following: Eren obviously, any character who is considered a superior such as Levi, Erwin etc.)|||
> 
> Also, I've created a small one-shot series set in the TJS universe. It's called "TJS: Tales from Shiganshina" and is set pre-series.


End file.
